Imposed from above during an economic emergency, rent control played a significant role both in curbing out-of-control inflation and solving the housing crisis Canada was experiencing at the time. A combination of robust rent control and concurrent investments in public housing saw housing prices fall by as much as 30 percent in real terms between 1975 and 1978.
  • seesthedayEnglish
    91·
    16 hours ago

    There is only one mechanism that both reduces rent, and increases housing supply that I’ve heard of. Taxing the shit out of the land value (not the property value) a.k.a. Georgism.

    The problem with this is that it WILL reduce the cost of housing which isn’t what our leaders actually want. They won’t say that part out loud though. This is because people want both affordable housing for our youth and people starting out, and they want retirees to be able to cash in on the value of their home.

    You CAN’T have both things. If the market was flooded with $300k houses then the value of everyone’s house would plummet because why wouldn’t you just buy a $300K house instead of a $1M house?

    • ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social
      3·
      11 hours ago

      Agreed on all counts. Additionally, living wages need to be paid with “casual” no hours jobs disincentivized (I.e. full benefits for all workers). Rent is more and more of people’s income, and it’s not solely because rent is rising although that is a giant part of the problem.

      Still, I’d ultimately want decommidification, but literally anything that will actually ease the problem is good in the meantime.

      • seesthedayEnglish
        1·
        3 hours ago

        I’ve heard them say it, but then quickly walk it back with phrases like how of course they are for affordable housing.

        Note that this isn’t a liberal, conservative or even NDP or PPC thing. I haven’t heard ANY of them propose anything that would actually make housing affordable at scale.

        If you’re heard any different please point me to it.

  • BlameThePeacockEnglish
    141·
    18 hours ago

    Isn’t that period exactly when developers stopped building new dedicated rental housing and put us into this hole we’re currently in?

    The article states that CMHC saw no difference between rent controlled and non-rent controlled markets in rental starts, but ignores the fact that overall rental starts dropped.

    Short term gains, for long term pain.

    What we need is Land Value Taxes, short term pain for long term gain. Unfortunately there just aren’t enough people willing to vote away the current system.

      • BlameThePeacockEnglish
        3·
        10 hours ago

        That won’t hurt, but it won’t fix the issue. There are places with little to no zoning that have gone up in value just as fast as everywhere else.

        Japan has practically zero zoning, and yet Tokyo is still more expensive per square foot than any Canadian city in terms of the core area and that’s with a population that’s in decline. They built tiny to keep things barely affordable, but theres no reason why Canada should need to go anywhere near that level of density with the amount of land we have even in just the reasonable parts of Canada.

  • rekabis
    46·
    9 hours ago

    Anyone who is evidence-based as opposed to ideology based needs only to look at every single jurisdiction where rent controls have been enacted, to become a vociferous opponent to rent controls.

    Rent
    Controls
    Do
    Not
    Work.

    Not over the long term, and definitely not for new tenants.

  • Gemma gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭@mstdn.plus
    36·
    16 hours ago

    @Sunshine The problem with rent control is that it rewards incumbent renters at the expense of new renters. This is not a point that can be seriously debated. However, the housing market, especially over many decades, is influenced by more than one factor, and it’s difficult to separate out the effects. I am extremely skeptical of rent controls; however, there is certainly a case to be made for some regulation of the rental market, in the same way that we regularly regulate public utilities.

    • Gemma gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭@mstdn.plus
      22·
      16 hours ago

      @Sunshine In my jurisdiction, there are effectively no real protections for tenants. Landlords can unilaterally raise rents by any amount without limit, with every lease renewal. My landlord has raised my rent every year for the past 3 years, now, and the housing market is so tight that there are no realistic alternatives for non-wealthy people. In a society where most people are living paycheck-to-paycheck, a 90 day notice is all it takes to evict for no cause.

  • MyBrainHurtsEnglish
    77·
    17 hours ago

    Ahhh, that’s why NYC is a bastion of affordability…