Private landlords are not to blame for housing crisis
Instead of scrutinizing what private landlords are doing and how much they raise rents we need to focus on what government is doing — and not doing.
By Catlin De Villa Contributor to The Toronto Star
We can all agree that rents are out of control in Canada. Contributing to this problem are high rents and low inventory. Across the country, headlines are blaming landlords for the high rent rates and labelling private landlords as greedy. The question here is: Who is really responsible for providing affordable rental units to society?
Rent is a social commodity and in 1976 Canada acknowledged the right to housing through the international human rights law, under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In 2019, the Governor General signed Bill C-97, which includes the “National Housing Strategy Act,” recognizing Canadian’s legal right to housing. Therefore, one can reasonably argue that it is up to the government to ensure housing needs are being met.
The private market has the goal of profit and competition. So in reality, the private market is doing what it is designed to do. It should be of no surprise that landlords in the private market are putting rents at a rate that is profitable for themselves; after all that is what the private market is designed for. We live in a social welfare state, so why is the government not stepping and providing this service of affordable housing?
Yes, the government does have some housing in the mix, but not enough. Currently, Toronto has Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) and Toronto Community Seniors Housing (TCSC), which provides rent-geared-to-income housing for individuals and families with lower incomes. New applicants to TCHC can expect an average wait time between 8 to 13 years before being offered a unit … and this is just Toronto.
There also exists private non-profit supportive housing, such as Houslink Mainstay housing, which provides housing and supports that is also rent-geared-to-income. Of course, demand for those units also far exceeds available units.
Catlin De Villa is an MSW candidate at Dalhousie University.