FREELAND TOUTS ‘AFFORDABLE’ DEVELOPMENT RENTING 330-SQUARE-FOOT UNITS FOR $1,600
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland toured a new building on Monday offering micro-apartments starting at $1,600 per month that she said was illustrative of the homes that her government is getting built for “low and middle income Canadians.”“This is an apartment building that has 227 apartments for low and middle income Canadians and it was built thanks to our Apartment Construction Loan Program,” said Freeland in a video shot at the site of Hudson House, a new 23-storey rental high-rise...
read moreNDP WANTS RATE HIKES CAPPED AT FIVE PER CENT. NO CHANCE UCP WILL AGREE
The UCP will almost certainly squash an NDP bill that comes up in the legislature next Monday. It calls for rent control, a constant no-no over decades of conservative governments. But the UCP needs to think hard about some form of relief from rent hikes that often hit double digits and hundreds of dollars a month.NDP Leader Rachel Notley calls the proposal “a very modest form of rent oversight.” The private-member’s bill, from NDP MLA Janis Irwin, would tie rent increases to the rate of...
read moreHEAD OF MAYORS’ GROUP PUSHES BACK ON POILIEVRE, SAYS CANADIAN CITIES ‘NOT GATEKEEPERS’
Mayors are community builders, not gatekeepers, Canada’s municipal governments said Monday as their spokesperson pushed back against language that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre often uses to attack city leaders. Scott Pearce, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, was speaking at a news conference in Ottawa ahead of the spring budget to call on the federal government for more infrastructure money. When asked about Poilievre’s proposed housing plan, Pearce...
read moreDEVELOPERS CLAIM THEY’RE NOT HOARDING VACANT LAND, FEARING USE-IT-OR-LOSE-IT POLICY
Ontario’s construction industry is pushing back against claims that developers are sitting on thousands of approved building permits, as the Ford government develops new use-it-or-lose-it policies. Amid sluggish housing construction starts in Ontario, the Progressive Conservative government has been weighing new policies that would target “land banking” and speed up development as the province looks to build 1.5 million homes by 2031. Currently, according to the government housing tracker, the...
read moreSTUDENT VISA CAP TO SLOW CANADA RENTAL DEMAND GROWTH, RBC SAYS
Canada’s new cap on international study permits should slow the increase in demand for rental units from foreign students by about half this year, according to the country’s largest lender. The number of international students in Canada is expected to grow by 100,000 in 2024, or 55% less than the net increase last year, assuming similar enrollment rates and outflow patterns after the pandemic, Rachel Battaglia, an economist at Royal Bank of Canada, wrote in a note on Wednesday. The impact on...
read moreEXECUTIVE COMMITTEE APPROVES UPDATES TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING INCENTIVE
Another slate of updates to a standing city policy meant to increase affordable housing in Regina will be headed for final approval next week, after initial debate Wednesday at executive committee. Recommendations to update the Housing Incentives Policy (HIP) passed with a unanimous vote in favour at Wednesday’s meeting, after discussion among city councillors about the purpose of the program. HIP offers a $1.5 million capital grant stream and five-year tax exemptions for affordable home...
read moreB.C. COURT UPHOLDS RULING QUASHING VANCOUVER RENT CONTROL BYLAW
A City of Vancouver bylaw that sought to control rents at single room occupancy buildings is facing another legal defeat. The BC Court of Appeal upheld a previous ruling that found the city didn’t have the jurisdiction to limit rents in the SROs. In the initial ruling, a Supreme Court judge found the city’s decision to adopt the bylaws was “unreasonable,” and it was subsequently quashed. The city appealed this initial decision, but the court found, once again, that provisions in the Vancouver...
read moreCMHC LOOKS BACK AT THE CANADIAN HOUSING MARKET IN 2023 AND WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2024
In late December last year, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) published a retrospective of its housing reports throughout 2023, including what Canadians may be able to expect in 2024. This is a report that could be vital for newcomers to Canada, who are among the Canadian residents most affected by the national housing affordability crisis in this country. The CMHC identified several main themes in the many reports that the organization published throughout 2023. Among the...
read moreA NEW REGISTRY OF BAD TENANTS – AND SOME LANDLORDS TOO – IS GAINING TRACTION IN ONTARIO
A new registry of delinquent Ontario tenants — and some unscrupulous landlords — is gaining traction among landlords and legal experts. Weiting Bollu founded the platform Openroom a little over a year ago after she had trouble ousting a tenant from the home she owned in Vaughan — even after the tenant stopped paying rent. “I thought I was the only one until I met other landlords. And I said, ‘Why isn’t anyone doing more about this?” she said. “That’s when I...
read moreCOST OF METRO VANCOUVER RENTAL HOUSING PROJECTS NEARLY DOUBLES BEFORE CONSTRUCTION BEGINS
The cost of two affordable rental developments to be owned and operated by the Metro Vancouver Regional District has nearly doubled even before construction has even begun. Metro Vancouver’s Housing Committee will vote Friday to approve the updated budget for two projects in Burnaby: the Connection, a 174-unit redevelopment on a current townhouse site operated by Metro Vancouver, and the Steller, a 122-unit development on vacant land. According to committee agenda documents, the budget...
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