Tenant City

Distilling rental housing policy, tenants' rights and other social justice news for the GTA.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

No end to vacancy decontrol in new bill

Province's new rent bill finally ready, Toronto Star, 29 April 2006
The legislation, to be introduced by Municipal Affairs Minister John Gerretsen, is meant to fulfil a Liberal election promise to restore "real protection" for tenants.

But the legislation may not go far enough to satisfy tenant advocates, while going too far for landlords.

Specifically, sources say the legislation will keep "vacancy decontrol," the policy introduced by the previous Conservative government to allow landlords to jack up rents on vacant apartments to whatever level the market will bear.

On the other hand, the legislation reportedly restores many of the tenant-friendly provisions from the NDP government's Rent Control Act that were repealed by the Conservatives.

Additional press: Globe and Mail.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Reaction to T.O. homeless survey

We need a national housing strategy, not a head count, Toronto Star, 23 April 2006
Determining whether 200, 500 or 1,000 people happen to be sleeping outside on April 19 shouldn't radically change the response — 31,985 homeless people are too many...

Increasing social assistance rates and minimum wage to liveable levels, new social housing and rent supplements will all help the city address its homeless disaster.

Spending money and wasting time on another study will only detract from the main issue: We are the only industrialized country in the world without a national housing program.

Additional press: Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, City of Toronto.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Ready for the hydro hike?

Low-income families face biggest pinch, Ottawa Sund, 13 April 2006
Ottawa Hydro says the average family uses 750 kilowatt hours of power per month at an average cost of $76. That will jump to about $85.

Dana Silk, general manager of the EnviroCentre, a non-profit organization that helps people reduce energy costs, said low-income families are at risk because they generally use electric heating devices that consume a lot of juice...

"In the short term, it's a problem for landlords," said John Dickie, chairman of the Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization.

"In the long term, it's a problem for tenants."

Additional press: Toronto Star, Globe and Mail.

Friday, April 07, 2006

In lieu of more serious series

CMHC's Time Series Data page lets you browse mountains of housing market datasets, but unfortunately they aren't available for free.

The annual Rental Market Reports, however, which are free, do contain a great deal of useful data broken down by region and census metropolitan area.

The following figures illustrate some basic data drawn from the 2004 and 2005 reports:

Figure illustrating vancancy rates by number of bedrooms for the Toronto CMA from 2003 to 2005.

Figure illustrating average rents by number of bedrooms for the Toronto CMA from 2003 to 2005.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Rent banks get boost

McGuinty Government Helps Low-Income Tenants, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 03 April 2006
The government is investing an additional $4 million in the Provincial Rent Bank program to promote housing stability by helping low-income tenants to avoid eviction for non-payment of rent due to an unforeseen crisis. Tenants with lower incomes may apply to their local rent bank to receive financial assistance to address short-term rent arrears. If a tenant's application is approved, the outstanding rent is paid directly to the landlord on behalf of the tenant.
While most regions have at least one rent bank (Toronto has several), York Region does not.

Additional press: KW Record.