Rent Control: Good or Bad?

[micheal]

Rent control doesn't work period. if there isn't a decent cap rate then no one will build. there has to be a decent return on investment. in regina there is a great demand for housing and rental units which has pushed rents up and made it feasable to build rental units. With unemployment the lowest in north america at 3.5%, more will get built. Rent control was a major promise by the NDP in sask. in the last election. the majority were against it and the NDP was left with only 9 seats.

[osmo]

Yes this is a leftist scheme I don't agree with. Rent controls gutted the Toronto rental market. It caused no new apartment buildings to be constructed in 20 years or so, now developers try to play catch up but it still only profitable to build high end units. Evreybody else is stuck on the public housing waiting list which at some estimates is over 180K names longs. Its a mess. The market best handles housing. Government should keep its hands out of rentals and mortgages.

[micheal]

Originally Posted by osmo

Yes this is a leftist scheme I don't agree with. Rent controls gutted the Toronto rental market. It caused no new apartment buildings to be constructed in 20 years or so, now developers try to play catch up but it still only profitable to build high end units. Evreybody else is stuck on the public housing waiting list which at some estimates is over 180K names longs. Its a mess. The market best handles housing. Government should keep its hands out of rentals and mortgages.

I totally agree 100%

[tenteno2]

Wow... Facts don't seem to be important in this religious diatribe.

Toronto: I would wager that the housing bubble collapse, free trade agreement impacts and high interest rates resulted in low rental construction volumes for the last 20 years, not rent control.

Osmo: Thank you for the perfect argument in favor of rent control or subsidies for rental. "still only profitable to build high end units" and "waiting list ... is over 180K names longs". The market is unlikely to take care of the necessary rental construction.
On the other hand, Toronto Community Housing Corporation is building affordable, sustainable housing. And closer to "market behaviour", CCL Homes has an amazing affordable housing model.

By the way, what is "profitable"? h0twired didn't want to answer the question...

hOtwired: Homelessness in Regina due to the recent rental and housing cost increases is nasty. Since 2008, homeless shelter use has risen 45%, and the shelters are running at 93% occupancy or higher. Yes, there aren't a lot of people living "on the street" in Regina - they'd freeze. Instead they are couch-surfing and living in malls. The overcrowding statistics for Regina are really high.
This is the exact opposite of "doing something right".

I'm outta here.

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by tenteno2

By the way, what is "profitable"? h0twired didn't want to answer the question...

Profitable. To make enough money for it to be a safe and worthwhile investment. Considering real estate on average gains 3-4% per year, I would expect that they would want to see that return or better.

Would you invest in a stock that returned <1% over 10 years?

Originally Posted by tenteno2

hOtwired: Homelessness in Regina due to the recent rental and housing cost increases is nasty. Since 2008, homeless shelter use has risen 45%, and the shelters are running at 93% occupancy or higher. Yes, there aren't a lot of people living "on the street" in Regina - they'd freeze. Instead they are couch-surfing and living in malls. The overcrowding statistics for Regina are really high.
This is the exact opposite of "doing something right".

Got any sources for those stats?

Do you have any hard and fast number of homeless people or just empty percentages.

You seriously sound like someone that drank a bit too much NDP Kool-Aid.

Who needs facts when you have FUD?

[rypinion]

Originally Posted by h0twired

Got any sources for those stats?

Do you have any hard and fast number of homeless people or just empty percentages.

You seriously sound like someone that drank a bit too much NDP Kool-Aid.

Who needs facts when you have FUD?

But he was just responding to your previous message:

Originally Posted by h0twired

Regina has no rent control system in place and rental rates follow market fluctuations. They don't seem to have streets filled with homeless people as a result either.

Which doesn't have any hard and fast number of homeless people either. Your original post makes the suggestion that the homelessness/poverty situation in Regina is better than that in Winnipeg. Where are your facts?

[Bdog]

Not sure if you caught my response to your questions on the last page Hotwired.

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by rypinion

But he was just responding to your previous message:

Which doesn't have any hard and fast number of homeless people either. Your original post makes the suggestion that the homelessness/poverty situation in Regina is better than that in Winnipeg. Where are your facts?

You will note my use of the word "seem". As in I have walked the streets of downtown Regina and to me it doesn't SEEM like there are more homeless people around. Nevermind the people that are supposedly homeless directly as a result of the lack of rent controls and not due to addiction, mental illness or job loss.

In fact. I would say that when I have been in Regina that to me it seems like there is less of an issue with poverty compared to Winnipeg.

At the end of the day, Regina has more active rental development, higher vacancy rates and only slightly higher average rental rates.

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/odpub/esu...=1323194698024

[osmo]

Originally Posted by tenteno2

Wow... Facts don't seem to be important in this religious diatribe.

Toronto: I would wager that the housing bubble collapse, free trade agreement impacts and high interest rates resulted in low rental construction volumes for the last 20 years, not rent control.

Osmo: Thank you for the perfect argument in favor of rent control or subsidies for rental. "still only profitable to build high end units" and "waiting list ... is over 180K names longs". The market is unlikely to take care of the necessary rental construction.
On the other hand, Toronto Community Housing Corporation is building affordable, sustainable housing. And closer to "market behaviour", CCL Homes has an amazing affordable housing model.

By the way, what is "profitable"? h0twired didn't want to answer the question...

hOtwired: Homelessness in Regina due to the recent rental and housing cost increases is nasty. Since 2008, homeless shelter use has risen 45%, and the shelters are running at 93% occupancy or higher. Yes, there aren't a lot of people living "on the street" in Regina - they'd freeze. Instead they are couch-surfing and living in malls. The overcrowding statistics for Regina are really high.
This is the exact opposite of "doing something right".

I'm outta here.

Comon now. The Ontario Government started to regulate rent back in the 70's this was before the housing mess of the late 80's. TCHC is still back logged and has no way to meet current demands.

If you have a open market developers will always overbuild! The're will always be that one last greater fool whom thinks he can make a buck, the resulting over supply cools off prices over time. The mess that is going on in Toronto currently is not fueled by any sort of true demand.

Rent controls put a false floor on the rental market and make it impossible for developers to come in. The Left will never admit that rent controls put more people on the street then keep in. Instead of forcing rent prices to remain at certain levels offer different programs such as rent top ups so people can still move freely but get the majority made up is rent prices jump up a tad to quick.

High rents and housing prices have little to do with the market. The Government has been messing around with boot since the 70's.

Toronto has no realistic chance to fill the gap of its social housing shortage. Most people will be forced to move out into the isolated suburbs in the GTA far from services and transit.

Regina with a lower vacancy rate then Toronto is actually seeing a good chunk of rental units being built - rent controls would stifle this overnight.