this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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According to a new report from Rentals, In July, the Canadian rental market hit a record high with an average asking rent of $2,078, marking an 8.9 per cent annual increase.

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago (27 children)

What we need to do is de-incentivize the commodification of housing entirely. Really make it unprofitable to deal in homes while passing the risk for your "investment" on to the people you're exploiting.

I'm talking about an outright ban on all corporations, foreign and domestic, from owning single family homes β€” corporations need offices, not homes, and shell corporations and LLCs don't even need those. Give a one year grace period, then tax all rental income collected from single-family homes at 100%. Maybe fine them each year too until they shape up.

I'm talking about regulating rental prices on short-term rentals, and capping the annual income allowed from short-term rental units to a value indexed against minimum wage (or preferably the area's living wage, determined not by any level of government itself but by valid third party organizations).

I'm talking an annual federal tax on properties not occupied full time by the owner or their immediate blood relative. Parent, sibling, or child. Something insane, maybe 400-800% of the home's property tax. Multiply it exponentially for each hoarded home. Throw in an exception for a second home if it's far enough from the first (people who own cottages aren't the problem, and shouldn't be penalised). But only for the second home β€” nobody needs two or three or four "vacation homes".

That's how we force land-rich boomers out of the housing "market" and get homes into the hands of people who need them, who should have a right to stable housing, who are currently being blocked from the market by vampiric land leeches.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But then how would we generate GDP?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is fake GDP. Investing in land value is unproductive. Unlike a business, nothing of value is added.

In Canada, spending a million dollars to open a restaurant or found a tech start up is a worse bet than just buying a house. Not to mention these businesses are simply harder to keep open when real estate expenses are so high. This is terrible for our economy and one of the biggest reasons why our GDP-per-capita is falling behind peer countries.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think their question was facetious.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hard to tell. Lots of Canadians, including probably our prime minister, genuinely believe that high and rising real estate prices is good for our economy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@SkepticalButOpenMinded @dubyakay

I wish more people understood this.

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