More Restrictions on Limited Rental Pool

[twobits]

The most valid points in the last page of posts are that Province wide regulations on rent controls have no fundamental legitimacy and that local City/Regional Govt's that are facing this rental crisis need to step up with their own solutions in what can be arguably be said are somewhat self induced costs of living in the community. The irony is that many of the costs are social programs. And many under the guise of being green like the bike lane backlash in Vancouver.
The demolition of rental properties that housed a dozen or more and the City rezoning for the sale of 50 high end condos without mandating the preservation of the dozen rentals displaced.
Vancouver, even under Gregfck, are complicit in this problem. He was focused on bike lanes, LED street lights, and safe injection sites while investors were slamming the housing market with redevelopment.
The problem IMO was never the vacant house or condo bought by a foreign National that created a housing shortage, it was the City itself in it's zeal to "redevelop" older neighborhoods without considering who was displaced and who could afford the replacement.

[erinmore3775]

Twobits wrote: "The demolition of rental properties that housed a dozen or more and the City rezoning for the sale of 50 high end condos without mandating the preservation of the dozen rentals displaced.
Vancouver, even under Gregfck, are complicit in this problem. He was focused on bike lanes, LED street lights, and safe injection sites while investors were slamming the housing market with redevelopment.
The problem IMO was never the vacant house or condo bought by a foreign National that created a housing shortage, it was the City itself in it's zeal to "redevelop" older neighborhoods without considering who was displaced and who could afford the replacement."

While this policy attitude has certainly contributed to the problems in Vancouver and Kelowna, there is another significant contributor to the problem. "Both Paul Sullivan's research and a CD Howe Report on housing point to "government" as one of the largest contributors to the lack of affordability in our housing market.

So far politicians have taken measures to curb demand by introducing new taxes, targeting foreign buyers and speculators however they have done little to address the supply side.

The C.D. Howe Institute's report on housing makes several recommendations to bolster the supply-side. They conclude that fewer fees, new zoning, and a streamlined approval process would equate to more homes, built in a timely manner, and at a lower price point." This amounts to about 26% ofthefinal cost. This is a cost that must be paid by the buyer or the renter. Reduction of thes few and taxes would encourage new/rental housing starts.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/layers-of-b-c-taxes-and-fees-add-up-to-26-tariff-on-new-home-costs-1.4842045
Unfortunately, the current provincial government, in its desire to balance its books has added additional taxes to the construction industry rather than using tax reductions, tax variances, and subsidies to promotehousing growth.

[hobbyguy]

^^ In reading that article, a 1 bdrm condo in Vancouver costs $120,000 more than the next highest city listed for taxes - Hamilton, Ontario.

Yikes! If you consider that for most, that's $120,000 on a mortgage, 25 years of interest... that's probably more like a hit of $180,000 to the consumer...

Realistically, for an investor, you start with with something like 6% return as zero (financial market return). So that really winds up getting paid by renters if investing in purpose built rentals.

The other thing that struck me, in a market facing shortages, the City of Vancouver takes 3 years (average) to issue the necessary permits. Yikes! If that ain't incompetence, I don't know what is. Way to go Gregor Robertson and the junior varsity BC NDP!

[Jflem1983]

Is everyone so silly they are missing the giant albatross. As prices go up. Taxes go up. Every delay and added cost only brings more money for communist welfare programs. The kind favoured by NDP types who tend to hijack local government structures.

In short. 3 years delay. Means more money to waste. Government is built on waste. The more they waste the more they need so they can waste some more. Then there will be taxes on the taxes. To deal with all this waste .


In the end there will be less rentals and more costs and taxes. Government is not able to feed herself.

[twobits]

Is everyone so silly they are missing the giant albatross. As prices go up. Taxes go up.

While I do appreciate your overall point of view of socialism being a failure, taxes do not increase in tandem with property values. Mil rates set taxes. What increases property taxes is Civic govt's that spend the taxes and want more every year with no correlation to cost of living increases because of agenda driven politics that have no apparent consideration or concern about the incremental wounds they inflict. What is really going on is all levels of gov't, Fed, Prov, and Civic..... and seemingly covertely doing so, are subjecting all working class citizens to the proverbial death by a thousand paper cuts.
The 10 cent sewer tax, the 1/2 point carbon tax, the 2 cent transit tax, the 5 cent enviro fee yada yada......we are complacently and slowly being bled to death without realizing we are actually being slaughtered as a middle class to pay for the wants of socialists.