TVO Today | Ontario’s housing dystopia is an utter scandal
TVO Today | Ontario’s housing dystopia is an utter scandal
OPINION: A new report calculates how much you’d have to make per hour to afford rent. The result is an indictment of all levels of government
The solution involves taxing and regulating the wealthy, and investing directly in public works at a large scale--all which is utter heresy to the neoliberals that comprise both major parties and much of our civil service.
Our government and our representatives are not psychologically equipped to do the right thing. Fer chrissakes, Andrea Horwath's platform was more right-wing than Mike Harris' was in the late 90s, and she's the progressive option.
We've had almost thirty years of not investing in society, of handing out cash and tax breaks like the supply-side pixie dust it is and just hoping that it'll all work out. It hasn't. And now, like someone who patted themselves on the back for saving money by not doing any home repairs for thirty years--and then blowing all the money we saved on a new boat and a trip to Vegas--we're staring at a roof that's collapsed and wondering what the hell we're going to do.
The answer? Again, tax the wealthy. Marginal tax rates at 90% for the rich, corporate tax rates through the roof, increased taxes on capital gains, including unrealized ones, estate taxes: all of it. It should all be on the table, because we've let it get so bad that the only fixes are horrifically expensive. We should have done this twenty to thirty years ago. That would have been the best time. The next best time is now.
Will the rich leave? Sure they will. Fuck'em. Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. I'm sure someone equally smart but less greedy will pick up where the parasites left off.
"tax the wealthy" - I would say that in particular this should be taxing wealth. Canada is in the unique position that most of the wealth in this country is real-estate, and therefore has a street address. Capital flight is much more difficult under that circumstance. The guy who owns three houses and a few condos and a car-dealership is far more interesting than a well-paid surgeon, but one owes more of their lifestyle to their wealth rather than their labour. I tend to dislike Jagmeet Singh on policy issues but I think he's spot on about it being time for wealth taxes in Canada.
Normally I'm pretty neoliberal when it comes to the housing crisis (ie: a huge part of the problem is overregulation) but at this point the solution will require undoing decades of damage and that will mean a need for below-market housing at least until the free market can catch up, if not forever. Taxing Canada's wealthy land-owners is an obvious way to fund this, since they're the ones profiting the most from this shortage.
Canada is in the unique position that most of the wealth in this country is real-estate, and therefore has a street address.
That's a really good point I've never seen articulated that way before.
I've long been curious about the impact of tweaks to the principal residence exemption for capital gains tax. Eg a cap, ie once a house has appreciated say $1M in value, further appreciation is taxable as revenue.
"Markets do not solve the problems they create." Very quotable!
And nobody is embarrassed or ashamed.
I'm sure there's quite a few politicians that are "concerned" about this situation...
In Ontario, the minimum wage is $15.50, but the rental wage for a one-bedroom apartment is $25.96 and for a two-bedroom unit, $29.90. In B.C., a $15.65 minimum wage is up against $27.54 for a one-bedroom and a whopping $33.10 for a two-bedroom. The closest any province comes to affordability is Newfoundland and Labrador, where a minimum wage of $13.70 is chasing a one-bedroom cost of $15.94 and a two-bedroom cost of $18.08.
Toronto leads the pack at $33.62 for a one-bedroom and $40.03 for a two-bedroom. Ottawa is second in the province at $26.68 and $32.37, still way above the minimum wage. Third is Barrie at $25.62 and $29.56, followed closely by Guelph at $25.77 and $28.83, and Hamilton at $23.02 and $28.77. Of the Ontario cities included in the study, the most “affordable” for renting is Thunder Bay, where an affordable one-bedroom requires a wage of $18.54 and a two-bedroom needs $22.60.
ODSP is just $13k a year. The equivalent full-time job pays $6.50/hr. The Ontario government would very much like disabled people to just die, and they're offering MAID rather than help.
I literally saw a landlord post today "don't be mad at the landlord class, be mad at your elected officials for letting it get this bad!"
Which is basically the same as saying "don't be mad at me for hitting you, be mad at my parents for birthing me!"
Markets do not solve the problems they create. When the desired outcome is housing security rather than profit, governments must regulate markets and support non-market housing.
This argument would make sense if it were primarily a market-created problem, but the reality is we made constructing housing basically illegal while stepping up immigration. The combination of municipal NIMBYist anti-densification policies and hyper-elaborate guidelines with the provincial Green Belt (which is a good idea if densification is permitted but it wasn't) and the Federal canceling of subsidies on market-rate purpose-built rental housing, and climbing immigration (something that's otherwise excellent) are what created the problem. Not "markets".
It should not be a surprise that housing prices -- both rental and ownership -- skyrocket when building housing is de jure illegal. Every new build requires one-off hearings and multi-year permission processes to get exceptions made to the "guidelines" that are actually rules. If something is legal only with a special government executive decision, then it's not legal, unless you consider murder to be legal in the USA because they have pardons.
If you listen to below-market-rent subsidized home builders, you'll hear the same complaints. They want to build, but can't.
Don't take my word for it, see this video of deposition by Mark Richardson of Housing Now TO:
https://mastodon.social/@Pxtl/110300343308877005
I loathe the Poilievre conservatives, but they're right about this. First step to stopping the housing crisis is to kick some municipal government ass. Trudeau is trying to do it with carrots through the Housing Accelerator Fund, but it's long-since time for sticks and not carrots.
Honestly, it's more than just the municipal governments, but all the homeowner associantions. They're the ones who lobbied for such things, and they're the ones blocking positive changes on the rare occasion when the councils actually try to improve things.
NiMBY is a menace for land usage of all forms, not just housing.