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] 129 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Here's your reminder that Ontario expects disabled people to live on 13k a year.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If they are lucky. Getting disability anything requires 90% luck and a doctor who "has the time" to sign a few documents.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago

In the US, they assign doctors to evaluate you, only to see you literally struggling to walk/balance yourself, and be told you could β€œprobably work at least 4-8 hours a week, no disability for you, moocher”.

Nevermind that even if said mythical 4-8 hour/week, remote job existed, the pay wouldnt cover jack shit…

[–] [email protected] 81 points 11 months ago (2 children)

There is such a big divide between homeowners and renters. The average mortgage is 12.5years in, meaning payments are based on home prices from 2010, when canadian homes were 300k on average. That means that homeowners probably pay on average, 1200 a month while renters are paying double that amount. Younger generations are fucked.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 11 months ago (10 children)

The consequence of Boomer "I got mine" mentality

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago (1 children)

My landlord pays 1200$ for her mortgage and I pay 1000$ fir renting the mold infested basement !

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (9 children)

In the last year my mortgage has ballooned by over 1k a month from 1600$ to 2700$. In that same period my basement tenant has seen her rent increase 0$.

Why? Because mortgage rates and affording my house are not her problem. That's the responsibility I assumed when I bought the house. I don't intend to raise her rent now or any time in the future.

Sadly, I keep being painted with the same brush as all the other quite frankly shitty people that call themselves landlords.

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 11 months ago (18 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] 7 points 11 months ago (9 children)

Rental income is taxed at 100%, FYI.

I think carrot works better than stick. Instead of punishing everyone who made an investment, and spending god knows how much money to enforce it, just offer a one time capital gains exemption on any investment single family dwelling that has rental income for more than a year. But make that exemption dependent on the sale going to someone who doesn't already own a home. (No landlords scooping up extra properties) this puts sellers in connection with buyers and since the seller is getting a big payout they can do the extra leg work. I bet many of the properties get sold to existing tenants.

The government gets an easy cost effective way to free up supply, and it doesn't actually take money out of their pocket. (Just removes future tax income). Limit the program to no more than 3 years. Anyone who is a casual landlord will jump to get out. Boomers in retirement will jump at it as they will have owned these properties for years. This will free up supply in months, not years. Everyone I know who owns rentals that I discussed this with said they would sell if they could avoid capital gains.

That's my $0.02. FWIW

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 11 months ago (2 children)

That's substantially more than my mortgage payment.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (5 children)

$2000+ a month for rent on average is crazy, but rent has always been higher than most mortgage payments, though. Often by a lot.

The biggest benefit to renting is that it doesn't require a $50,000+ down payment and $10,000+ "repair bombs" every once in a while 😡

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Almost double mine. Meanwhile, my home's value has increased by like 50% since 2019. It's insane, untenable, and unjust.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Landlords should be outlawed. They provide no service to society, only harm

[–] [email protected] 33 points 11 months ago (5 children)

They're supposed to fill the gap for people who can't afford to buy, or for whom it doesn't make sense to do so (i.e. people in town on a temporary job).

The problem is that "landlords" these days are more towards the class of "investors" who expect rents to cover the cost of their mortgage plus additional profit

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

Public housing in the Viennese style is the proper way to handle this.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

There are lots of ways that gap could be filled. Landlords exist to make profit by filling that gap. They have a financial incentive to maximize returns and minimize expenses, and have the leverage to do so to an exploitative degree.

Another way to accomplish that would be through cooperatives, which are non-profit corporations that exist to provide housing. They have a mandate to maximize utility to their tenants, and have no profit incentive leading them to exploit their tenants.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago (3 children)

While I don't completely agree with an outright ban imo there should be strict limits to the amount of residential property a person or corporation can own.

No one should be making significant profit off of something so essential.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Make property ownership a shit investment.

Cap revenue from rent to 5-10%. Tax the living fuck out of empty properties so they'll take someone, anyone. Tax higher the more properties they own.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Also outright ban AirBnB and make it so corporations are not allowed to own houses.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yes please, houses are for people, corporations have no business (heh) owning houses.

AirBnB is exacerbating the problem, they need to be regulated to hell or outright banned.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

We should really crack down on Airbnbs. Why make $2000 a month by providing a place for someone to live when you can make $500 in one night from a tourist?

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Conservative premiers across the country have abolished rent control and created a situation where the wealthy have several income properties ruining everything. Liberals are totally cool with it too. Tax domestic speculators. Encourage public housing at federal and provincial levels. Never vote Conservative.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago (2 children)

How are people not just breaking into the empty places and just living rent free? Like Canada is probably as cold as here and I would die in the winter if I didn't have a home.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Exactly what's going on in Spain. And if it's your main place of residence it's legal.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The number of empty places is vastly overstated by people looking for somebody to blame instead of market forces.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (7 children)

Probably a good idea to block market forces that incentiveise corpos from buying up all homes, creating a generation that can't afford to own a home.

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[–] fsxylo 19 points 11 months ago (9 children)

Seriously, who tf are they renting to? There aren't that many rich people.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago (1 children)

People are spending most of their income on housing

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I'm American, but I can't find a place to rent that doesn't demand an income of 3x rent. Is that not a thing in Canada?

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (6 children)

It's simple! For me I either have to pay that much, be homeless, move to a tiny shitty city with no work in my field, or spend a year trying to find a decent place that isn't totally unaffordable while thousands of competing potential tenants do the same to renters with vacancies. So fun!

My landlord upped my monthly rent $600 bucks this year because he's a cunt and knows I have no fucking choice except to pay him.

[–] fsxylo 6 points 11 months ago

I had another comment typed before I realized that they don't need to fill every room if they have a small fraction paying their rates.

It's fucking f2p whale economics without the f2p. Nothing against you.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It’s crazy how most of my friends are paying more for their 3 bedrooms apartment than I pay for my 5 bedrooms plus basement single home. That includes all expenses for a home owner except renovations budget. The landlords are probably abusing with skyrocket profits.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Millenials and GenX are going to live on the street in their old age.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

Hah, old age. What a fever dream

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

BoC keeps raising rates so it's obvious that home owners have to raise their rental prices too. How else are they going to get more money out of their investments? Everyone's fucked unless you're rich.

[–] MyDogLovesMe 10 points 11 months ago

β€œβ€¦asking”

Fuck off.

Sorry.

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