MONTREAL TO BEEF UP INSPECTIONS FOR RENTAL UNITS
With an aging stock of rental units, Montreal aims to beef up inspections of buildings, hoping to crack down on slumlords and prevent a general degradation of living conditions. The city announced on Thursday it would spend $3 million to inspect 8,000 buildings and 130,000 apartment units over five years. A further $1.5 million over three years will be given to community groups that help tenants advocate for their rights. It’s good news for tenants living in unsafe or unsanitary conditions,...
read moreCANADA SEES INVESTMENT FLIGHT AS ECONOMY SLOWS AND GOV TARGETS INVESTORS
Canada may be in the process of losing its reputation as an investment safe haven. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) released its balance of international payments for Q1 2024, reinforcing preliminary data showing investors are looking for opportunities abroad. It also revealed foreign investors are engaging in their first divestment from the country in 14 years, as the domestic economy heads towards underperforming the global average. Foreign Investors Pulled Billions Out of Canada’s Economy ...
read moreIN DESPERATE NEED OF MORE AFFORDABLE HOUSING MISSISSAUGA COUNCIL BACKS BOLD PLAN TO INCENTIVIZE DEVELOPERS
How can sky-high rents across Mississauga be lowered? Here is the dilemma: governments are not in the business of building rental units; and the companies that do are facing unprecedented cost barriers such as high interest and building material prices. Along with mounting demand these rapidly increasing costs continue to push rental rates far out of reach for most residents in the city. Mississauga City Council has developed a strategy to incentivize developers, helping lower their...
read moreONTARIO’S ECONOMY TO SEE WORST NON-RECESSION GROWTH SINCE EARLY 80S: FAO
Canada’s largest provincial economy is unlikely to be the driver of an economic boom any time soon. The Financial Accountability Office (FAO) of Ontario released its economic and budget outlook for 2024, and it was not very rosy. The non-partisan government agency, tasked with providing the public with independent analysis and forecasts of the economy, says the province has been significantly underperforming global growth. Ontario’s economy is forecast to expand at one of the slowest rates in...
read moreIMMIGRATION-FUELLED GROWTH HITS THE HOUSING CRISIS WALL IN CANADA, AROUND THE WORLD
Across much of the developed world, one of the most dependable drivers of economic growth is faltering. For decades, the rapid inflow of migrants helped countries including Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom stave off the demographic drag from aging populations and falling birth rates. That’s now breaking down as a surge of arrivals since borders reopened after the pandemic runs headlong into a chronic shortage of homes to accommodate them. Canada and Australia have escaped recession...
read moreCANADIAN RENTERS NOT CONFIDENT TRUDEAU’S POLICY WILL EASE HOUSING CRISIS: POLL
Canadian renters are not confident in Trudeau’s housing policy outlined in the latest federal budget, a new poll says. A majority of respondents are aware of the Liberal government’s housing measures but most were either not confident in or unsure about its ability to ease housing woes, according to the survey, carried out by rentals.ca. “While there is a clear recognition of the government’s efforts, the prevailing skepticism and concern among renters highlight the challenges ahead,” the...
read moreCITY TARGETS TORONTO’S ‘BAD FAITH’ LANDLORDS WITH MORE INSPECTIONS
Toronto city council has approved a beefed up apartment inspection and enforcement program designed to improve safety and provide readily accessible online updates on building conditions across the city. Councillors approved the new standards for RentSafeTO at a meeting late last week. The program, which began in 2017, is a bylaw enforcement system designed to ensure owners and operators of over 3,600 apartment buildings are meeting maintenance standards. The new rules include targeted...
read moreJUST A FEW BIG LANDLORDS COME UP, AGAIN AND AGAIN, IN ANALYSIS OF ONTARIO’S RENT HIKES
Newly released data from Ontario’s rental housing tribunal analyzed by CBC News shows that fewer than two dozen corporate landlords filed most of the applications to raise rents above provincial guidelines for most of 2022 — which one Toronto housing lawyer says is a sign of the increasing concentration in the province’s rental market. CBC News found that 20 landlords filed over half of the 470 applications in the first eight months of 2022, with the top five filing over a quarter....
read moreLANDLORDS REMOVING UNITS FROM RENT SUBSIDY PROGRAM, CITING INCREASED OPERATING COSTS
A senior civil servant in the New Brunswick Housing Corporation says his office is looking into an increased trend in landlords taking units off the corporation’s rent subsidy program. Gregory Forestell, the corporation’s vice-president of housing programs, says landlords are opting out of the rent subsidy program as early as five years after entering into agreements with the provincial body. “They’re seeing the opportunity to see a better return on their...
read moreALBERTA GOVERNMENT HAS ‘DEEP CONCERNS’ ABOUT FEDERAL HOUSING ANNOUNCEMENT
The Alberta government says it has “deep concerns” and not enough information about a $6-billion federal housing announcement made Tuesday morning. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement while he was in Dartmouth, N.S., as part of the government’s pre-budget tour. Trudeau says while the fund will help address the housing shortage plaguing Canadians, provinces and territories have to adopt certain housing policies in order to access it. The offices of Jason Nixon, Minister of...
read more