DOCSLIB.ORG

Rent Control in Ontario – a Boom Or Bust for Landlords and Tenants?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Rent Control in Ontario – a Boom Or Bust for Landlords and Tenants? Smart Decisions. Lasting Values. Rent Control in Ontario – A Boom or Bust for Landlords and Tenants? Todd Christenson, BComm, Specialist, Tax Alan Wainer, CPA, CA, CPA (Illinois), Partner, Audit & Advisory Audit | Tax | Advisory Chartered Professional Accountants Member Crowe Horwath International www.crowesoberman.com As the 2018 calendar year gets underway, it’s a good opportunity for a refresher on the significant legislative changes introduced in 2017, which impact tenants and landlords in Ontario. The expansion of rent control legislation in Ontario, announced in Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan, and passed in May 2017 under The Rental Fairness Act (collectively known as the “Rent Control Changes”), implements measures aimed at providing tenants with more price security, and stabilizing the province’s long-term rental market. Regardless of which side of a increases in rent were not limited KEY CHANGES POST-RENT lease you fall on, you will likely by the guidelines published by the CONTROL CHANGES: be affected by the Rent Control Government of Ontario. Changes implemented in Ontario. Rent control guidelines are 3. Landlords of rental units that expanded to apply to most private Here is a summary of the rental were subject to rent control, could rental units in Ontario, including landscape before and after the apply to the Landlord and Tenant those built or first rented to Rent Control Changes, as well as Board for rental increases above tenants on or after November 1, the implications of the changes for the guidelines. Rental increases 1991. Under the Rent Control both tenants and landlords. that exceeded the guidelines were Changes, landlords cannot generally granted to landlords increase rent by more than the RENTAL LANDSCAPE PRE- to account for extraordinary amount set by the Government of RENT CONTROL CHANGES: increases in municipal taxes, Ontario’s rent increase guidelines. utilities, capital expenditures or 1. Rental units (including private operating costs. 1. These guidelines do not apply apartments, condo units and to nursing homes or commercial part or all of a house) built or 4. Landlords were able to evict rental properties, but they do first rented to tenants on or after tenants, without monetary apply to retirement residences. November 1, 1991 were exempt consequence to the landlord, from rent control. under active leases if the landlord 2. The Government of Ontario desired to utilize the rental unit publishes the rent increase 2. Tenants of rental units that were for their own, an immediate family guideline by August 31st of each not subject to rent control, could member’s, or a specified person’s, year, which outlines the maximum face unpredictable and arbitrary personal use. percentage rent increase rent increases every year, as the applicable for the following year. 2 • The maximum annual rent 6. The Rent Control Changes the amount of the increase, and increase is 1.5% for 2017, and are effective for notices of rent the date on which the increase is 1.8% for 2018. increase, lease renewals, or effective. newly signed leases on or after • The maximum annual rent April 20, 2017. • The Landlord and Tenant increase is capped at 2.5% for Board has indicated that only any given year. The maximum IMPLICATIONS FOR approved formats for these annual rent increase of 2.5% LANDLORDS: notices may be used and, as does not include exemptions, such, it is advisable to use which can be provided by the 1. Landlords can continue to set the form N1 – Notice of Rent Landlord and Tenant Board, rent prices for new tenants or Increase provided by the to increase rent beyond the units at their sole discretion. Landlord and Tenant Board. annual cap and are addressed throughout the article. 2. Because annual rent increases 6. Landlords and tenants may may not be sufficient to cover agree that the landlord will 3. If a landlord evicts a tenant rising operating costs, the Rent provide certain services or because they wish to use a Control Changes may result in make improvements to a unit. If rental unit for personal use, the a reduction in net rental income such an agreement is made in landlord is required to provide for landlords who own currently writing, the landlord and tenant compensation to the evicted rented units. may also agree (in writing), to a tenant, equal to one month’s rent increase of up to 3% above rent, or offer another rental unit 3. There may be a reduction in the published guidelines. If the acceptable to the tenant. the construction of new rental preceding agreements are made, buildings, as landlords could the landlord is not required to 4. Landlords can no longer apply have less incentive to do so, provide 90 day written notice of to the Landlord and Tenant given that their future revenue, the rent increase. Boards to increase rent above the and hence return on investment, • An increase in rent that is stated guidelines, due to increases would be limited by the Rent due to the above agreements, in utility costs. This measure is Control Changes. is limited to a list of prescribed intended to encourage landlords services or facilities, such to make their units more energy 4. Landlords can only increase as - providing cable or satellite efficient. a tenant’s rent after the tenant television, an air conditioner, has occupied a unit for a period locker or storage space. 5. Ontario’s Ministry of Housing of not less than 12 months, or 12 is developing a “standard lease months have passed since the last 7. With respect to rental units agreement”, which aims to help rent increase. where care or meal services tenants and landlords know, and are provided to tenants (ex: a have documented, their rights and 5. Written notice of an intended retirement residence), and the responsibilities, while also seeking rent increase must be provided to care or meal services are billed to reduce disputes between a tenant at least 90 days before to tenants independently of rent, tenants and landlords. any such increase becomes these charges are not subject to effective. The notice must indicate the Rent Control Changes. crowesoberman.com 3 IMPLICATIONS FOR TENANTS: 4. Tenants who continue to rent increasing their rental revenues the same property will benefit as these new tenants would 1. Tenants renting a unit that was from the protection the Rent not be subject to the Rent not subject to rent control prior Control Changes provide. Tenants Control Changes; to the Rent Control Changes, entering the rental market as new/ and who received a notice of rent prospective tenants, or tenants • Landlords choosing not to increase prior to April 20, 2017, who move to a different rental unit, invest in making improvements may have their rent increased by would not benefit from the Rent or repairs to their units, due to any arbitrary amount. Any tenant Control Changes. In high demand their limitation on recuperating who received a notice of rent rental markets (ex: Toronto, where these costs via increased rents; increase after April 20, 2017, is vacancy rates are below 3%), protected by the rent increase bidding wars for rental units may • Landlords choosing not to limits (1.5% increase for 2017, and continue, and the Rent Control offer units that they, or their 1.8% increase for 2018). Changes offer no protection from immediate family members these bidding wars; may require for personal use 2. Tenants should carefully review in the future to the market, any notices of rent increase 5. Tenants may have a smaller due to having to compensate to ensure the proposed rent supply of rental units to choose tenants for evicting them for increases do not exceed the from, or be subject to higher these reasons. allowable percentages. If rent initial rents, as landlords try to increases exceed the allowable protect their revenue streams and The Rent Control Changes also percentages, the amounts investments. offer some planning opportunities paid in excess of the allowable for developers and landlords. percentages must be refunded by Although the Rent Control Landlords offering a multitude of the landlord. Changes offer protection to services to tenants (retirement existing tenants, these changes residences offering lodging, • Tenants should request may have adverse, and far- meals, transportation, recreational that their landlord refund any reaching, effects on the rental services) may choose to unbundle excess amount paid. market in Ontario. Some of the some of the services from the rent adverse effects may include, but charge. To the extent that the fees • If the landlord does not are not limited to: for these additional services are refund the excess amount not included in the tenant’s rent, paid, a tenant can file a T1 – • A decrease in the supply any increases to such fees will Tenant Application for Rebate of rental units in the market, not be subject to the Rent Control of Money the Landlord as landlords choose not to Changes. Having said this, the Owes to the Landlord and construct new buildings, unbundling of services would likely Tenant Board. given the limitations put on have sales tax implications to both generating rental revenue; the landlord and the tenant, and 3. Tenants will now have rent may end up increasing tenants’ control protections when • Landlords not renewing out of pocket expenses even renting a unit in a newer leases with existing tenants, further. building (i.e. buildings built after so that units can be rented November 1, 1991). to new tenants, thereby 4 If you wish to receive additional information to assist in navigating these new regulations, and the related implications, for tenants and landlords, please don’t hesitate to contact your Crowe Soberman advisor.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • INCREASING the AFFORDABILITY of RENTAL HOUSING in CANADA: an Assessment of Alternative Supply-Side Measures* by Marion Steele and Peter Tomlinson
    Volume 3•Issue 2• September 2010 INCREASING THE AFFORDABILITY OF RENTAL HOUSING IN CANADA: An Assessment of Alternative Supply-side Measures* by Marion Steele and Peter Tomlinson ABSTRACT Homelessness is a serious social problem that is unlikely to be solved by grand proclamations or a single policy initiative. It is, more likely, to be solved by the introduction of innumerable changes both in how we understand the problem and how we approach its solution. In this paper we examine the costs and benefits of tax measures that would promote greater involvement of the private sector in the provision of affordable housing. We also examine the costs and benefits of a variety of regulatory initiatives. In an earlier era, centrally directed federal-provincial grant programs for housing run by governments and non-profit organizations were the means of providing affordable housing. Most of the proposals in this paper, in contrast, aim to harness the energy and the efficiency-promoting competition of the private sector. The focus is on decentralized decision-making. Some measures would depend heavily on individual entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations. Others would depend on municipal governments, whose program capacities have grown greatly in recent decades and whose closeness to their constituencies makes them well-placed both to develop and to deliver supportive measures. Our assessment of possibilities suggests that a low-income housing tax credit best balances effectiveness with the need to minimize costs on strained government budgets. Tax measures aimed at investors in multi-unit rental buildings are also likely to meet these criteria. * This is a revised version of a discussion paper commissioned for the Experts’ Roundtable, 26 October 2009, on tax and regulatory policies to increase the supply of affordable rental housing, co-sponsored by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy and the Calgary Homeless Foundation.
    [Show full text]
  • Tenancy Rent Control and Credible Commitment in Maintenance
    TENANCY RENT CONTROL AND CREDIBLE COMMITMENT IN MAINTENANCE Richard Arnotty Elizaveta Shevyakhovaz April 2007 Abstract Under tenancy rent control, rents are regulated within a tenancy but not between tenancies. This paper investigates the e¤ects of tenancy rent control on housing quality, maintenance, and rehabilitation. Since the discounted revenue received over a …xed-duration tenancy depends only on the starting rent, intuitively the landlord has an incentive to spruce up the unit between tenancies in order to “show” it well, but little incentive to maintain the unit well during the tenancy. The paper formalizes this intuition, and presents numerical examples illustrating the e¢ ciency loss from this e¤ect. Keywords: tenancy rent control, rent control, maintenance, housing quality, rehabilitation, credible commitment JEL Classi…cation: R21, R38 The authors would like to thank seminar participants at the MIT Real Estate Seminar and session participants at the 2005 North American Regional Science Association Meetings, especially the discussant, John Quigley, for useful comments on an earlier draft of the paper. yCorresponding Author ([email protected]). Department of Economics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 zDepartment of Economics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 1 Tenancy Rent Control and Credible Commitment in Maintenance 1 Introduction Tenancy rent control is a form of rent control in which rents are regulated within a tenancy but may be raised without restriction between tenancies; more speci…cally, the starting rent for a tenancy is unregulated but the path of nominal rents within a tenancy, conditional on the starting rent, is regulated, typically causing rents to rise less rapidly over the tenancy than they would in the absence of controls1.
    [Show full text]
  • Killam Apartment REIT 2017 Annual Report
    Home. For all. Killam Apartment REIT Annual Report 2017 About Killam Profile Growth Strategy Killam Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust (“Killam”, or Killam’s strategy to maximize value and long‐term “Killam Apartment REIT”) is a growth-oriented investment profitability is focused on three priorities: trust owning, operating, and developing apartments and • Increasing the earnings from its existing portfolio; manufactured home communities (“MHCs”). Killam owns a • Expanding the portfolio and diversifying $2.3 billion real estate portfolio, located in Atlantic Canada, geographically through accretive acquisitions, with Ontario, and Alberta. an emphasis on newer properties; and • Developing high‐quality properties in its core markets. Mission Core Values To have caring staff deliver clean, safe, quality housing to tenants who are proud to call our properties home. Emily Anne & Family Calling Killam Home Since 2016 2 KILLAM APARTMENT REIT | 2017 2017 Highlights Home. For all. Killam launched its Home. For all. advertising Total Unitholder Return campaign in October 2017. This program provides a window into the lives of Killam’s residents, demonstrating just how much “home” matters to the 24.3% diverse group of people who live in Killam’s properties. This campaign features several residents – young Increase in Same Property loves and vintage loves, supermoms and superheroes, Net Operating Income (“NOI”) teenagers and couples who have been together since their teens, showcasing the rich diversity of Killam’s 3.6% communities. Acquisitions Completed $200M Debt to Total Assets 48.7% Tenant Satisfaction Survey Results 90% Letter to Unitholders 4 Asset Portfolio 16 Management’s Discussion & Analysis 25 Financial Statements 74 Five-Year Summary 107 @killamapartments killam.apartments @KillamTweets snapsofkillam KILLAM APARTMENT REIT | 2017 3 Letter to Unitholders Dear Unitholders, I am pleased to report that 2017 was a very successful year Our portfolio performed very well in 2017, achieving its for Killam.
    [Show full text]
  • MARKET DIPERFEC'l'iors ARD the ROLE OP RER'l' RBGOLATIORS IN
    MARKET DIPERFEC'l'IORS ARD THE ROLE OP RER'l' RBGOLATIORS IN THE RESIDENTIAL RER'l'AL MAR1tET by J. David Bulcbanski School of Comwunity and Regional Planning University of British Columbia Research Study No. 6 COllll.ission of Inquiry into Residential Tenancies Toronto Published by the Conunission of Inquiry into Residential Tenancies, December 1984 Printed in Canada ISSN - 0823-4418 ISBN - 0-7743-9916•3 Copies of this report are available from the Ontario Government Bookstore, 880 Bay Street Toronto, Ontario, M7A 1N8. Telephone: 416-965-6015; toll-free 1-800-268-7540; area code 807, ask operator for Zenith 67200. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Conmission. CONTENTS Introduction Part I. The Rental Housing Market: Problem or Solution? 4 1. Major Elements of the Rental Housing Problem 4 1.1 The Gap Between Affordable Rents and Existing Rents 5 1.2 The Gap Between Existing Rents and Financial Recovery Rents 8 1.3 Is the Rental Market the Problem or the Solution? 12 2. Measuring the Market Impacts of Rent Regulations _14 2. 1 The Lack of Reliable Evidence 14 The Counterscenario 15 The Impact Domain Problem 15 2.2 Unsupportable Negative Impact Claims 16 2.3 Why Are Rent Regulations So Controversial? 22 Ideology 22 Little Agreement on Social Priorities 22 Misunderstandings about the Nature of the Existing Rent Regulation System 23 Assumptions About the Actual Impacts and Effectiveness of Rent Regulation 23 Economic Self-Interest 24 3. Problematic Characteristics of the Residential Rental
    [Show full text]
  • Kristjana Loptson
    The “Housing Economy” and Housing Insecurity in Canada by Kristjana Loptson A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Political Science University of Alberta © Kristjana Loptson, 2017 Abstract This dissertation situates Canada’s housing system, and the policy framework that shapes it, within a broad political economy context in order to understand the evolving nature of housing in the country. The study is motivated by a concern about the social implications of rampant housing insecurity, which occurs when households cannot access, or have only insecure access to adequate housing. Housing insecurity manifests in a range of ways and is reflected in the high number of people presently experiencing or at risk of homelessness; in the low rental vacancy rates in many cities; in the number of evictions occurring due to rent arrears; in long social housing waiting lists; and in shelter costs that are, across the country, unmanageably high for many households. I contend that identifying and understanding the barriers preventing effective policy responses to housing insecurity requires a careful analysis of Canada's complex housing system, including appreciating how profoundly important housing assets have become to Canada’s economy. Homeownership has come to serve as a crucial financial instrument, and this political economic reality has transformed the meaning of housing tenure and seriously constrained housing policy options. A core contention of this dissertation is that as Canada's housing system has evolved, the Canadian economy has increasingly developed into a “housing economy”— a term I use to describe a paradigm of economic growth characterized by a highly financialized housing system in which a substantial proportion of the country’s wealth and debt are generated and stored.
    [Show full text]
  • Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust Renewal Annual Information Form
    BOARDWALK REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST RENEWAL ANNUAL INFORMATION FORM DATE February 27, 2020 - 1 - BOARDWALK REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST ANNUAL INFORMATION FORM TABLE OF CONTENTS NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS ........................................................... 5 PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION AND NON-GAAP MEASURES ................... 6 PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION .......................................................................................... 6 NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES ......................................................................................................... 6 NET OPERATING INCOME (“NOI”) ........................................................................................................... 6 FUNDS FROM OPERATIONS (“FFO”) ......................................................................................................... 7 ADJUSTED FUNDS FROM OPERATIONS (“AFFO”) .................................................................................... 7 ADJUSTED CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATIONS (“ACFO”) ......................................................................... 7 DISTRIBUTIONS AS A PERCENTAGE OF FFO, AFFO AND ACFO .............................................................. 7 OPERATING MARGINS ............................................................................................................................... 8 STABILIZED REVENUE GROWTH, STABILIZED OPERATING EXPENSE GROWTH AND STABILIZED NOI GROWTH ...............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Rent-Striking the REIT: Reflections on Tenant Organizing Against Financialized Rental Housing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
    Radical Housing Journal, September 2019 Vol 1(2): 81-101 Section: Retrospectives Rent-striking the REIT: reflections on tenant organizing against financialized rental housing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Emily Power Hamilton Tenants Solidarity Network, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Bjarke Skærlund Risager Hamilton Tenants Solidarity Network and Department of Geography & Planning, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Abstract Emily Power is a member In 2018, a group of tenants from four high-rise apartment buildings in of the Hamilton Tenants East Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, launched a seven-month rent strike Solidarity Network (HTSN). against their landlord, a real estate investment trust (REIT). The Bjarke Skærlund Risager is a tenants protested a proposed steep rent increase and demanded long- Postdoctoral Fellow in the standing repairs to their apartments. While some repairs were done, Department of Geography & and the strike involved other successful moments, the rent increase was Planning, University of Toronto, not fought off. Written from the perspective of the Hamilton Tenants and is doing participatory action research with HTSN. Solidarity Network (HTSN), the group that helped organizing the rent Contact: strike, this article has two aims. First, we analyse the strategy and tactics [email protected] and of the REIT in the context of deindustrialization and financialization in [email protected] Hamilton. We break up this financialized landlord’s ‘repositioning’ strategy into five predatory tactics: cutting, squeezing, greening, rent increasing, and bullying and bribing. Second, we reflect on the experiences, successes, and failures of HTSN. Our successes include organizing tenants and training tenants as organizers; having well- executed legal, fundraising, and media strategies; making social events and political actions integral to the strike; and relying on and forging further ties with comrades and supporters.
    [Show full text]
  • Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust Annual Information Form
    BOARDWALK REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST ANNUAL INFORMATION FORM February 25, 2021 - 2 - BOARDWALK REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST ANNUAL INFORMATION FORM TABLE OF CONTENTS NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS .......................................................... 6 PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION AND NON-GAAP MEASURES ................... 7 PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION .......................................................................................... 7 NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES ......................................................................................................... 8 NET OPERATING INCOME ......................................................................................................................... 8 FUNDS FROM OPERATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 8 ADJUSTED FUNDS FROM OPERATIONS ..................................................................................................... 9 ADJUSTED CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATIONS ........................................................................................... 9 DISTRIBUTIONS AS A PERCENTAGE OF FFO, AFFO AND ACFO ............................................................ 10 OPERATING MARGINS ............................................................................................................................. 10 STABILIZED REVENUE GROWTH, STABILIZED OPERATING EXPENSE GROWTH AND STABILIZED NOI GROWTH ........................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • 2017 Ontario Budget a Stronger, Healthier Ontario
    2017 Ontario Budget A Stronger, Healthier Ontario The Honourable CHARLES SOUSA Minister of Finance Budget Papers For general inquiries regarding 2017 Ontario Budget: Budget Papers, please call: Toll-free English and French inquiries: 1-800-337-7222 Teletypewriter (TTY): 1-800-263-7776 For electronic copies of this document, visit our website at www.ontario.ca/budget A printed copy of this publication can be ordered: Online: www.serviceontario.ca/publications By phone: ServiceOntario Contact Centre (Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM) Telephone: 416-326-5300 TTY: 416-325-3408 Toll-free across Canada: 1-800-668-9938 TTY Toll-free across Ontario: 1-800-268-7095 © Queen’s Printer for Ontario, 2017 ISBN 978-1-4868-0080-3 (Print) ISBN 978-1-4868-0081-0 (HTML) ISBN 978-1-4868-0082-7 (PDF) Ce document est disponible en français sous le titre : Budget de l’Ontario 2017 – Documents budgétaires FOREWORD Foreword A Balanced Approach The 2017 Budget is a balanced budget, the first one since the 2008–09 global recession. This was achieved through the hard work and determination of the people of Ontario. The recession had negative effects across the world, and Ontario was not immune. Many people lost their jobs and the economy weakened, resulting in a substantial drop in the Province’s revenues. Faced with this new reality, the Ontario government embarked upon a plan to invest in our people and return to a balanced budget. Rather than slash the programs and services upon which Ontario families rely to eliminate the deficit, our government chose to build Ontario up.
    [Show full text]
  • Rent Control: a Proposal for Reform
    RENT CONTROL: A PROPOSAL FOR REFORM EdwardIacobucci* Le contr6ledes loyers estunequestionfort Rent control is a matter of considerable controvers~e dans les domaines academic andpolitical controversy. This universitaireetpolitique. L'auteur de cet articleexplores three distinctapproaches articleexamine trois approchesdistinctes that have been taken by qui ont 9t9 adoptdespardes commentateurs : commmmm'entators: the libertarianview la vision libertarienne embrass~e par espoused by Epstein; the connection Epstein; le rapport entre le foyer et between home and personhoodanalyzed l 'indentit individuelleanalysgparRadin; by Radin; and the economic welfare le bien-4tre 6conomique. Dans cette approach. Within the latter perspective, dernijreperspective, l'auteur insiste tout this articleplaces particular emphasis on particulirementsurlefait que le contr6le the role of rent control as a substitutefor des loyers peut remplacer la conclusion long-term contracting. The article then 1995 CanLIIDocs 26 de contratii long terme. L 'auteurpropose proposes a reform to rent control that ensuite une r~forme du con tr6le des loyers attempts to addressconcerns raisedby the qui essaie d'aborderles preoccupations three approaches. The proposed regime mises en ividencepar les troisapproches. decontrols rentsfor tenants moving into Le rggimeproposglib re leprixdes loyers apartments, while rent in occupied pay~s par les locatairesqui s'installent apartments rises at market ratesset by a dans un appartement,tandis qu'ilpermet government agency. The paperfurther l'augmentationdes loyers pays par les suggestsa transitionscheme to movefrom locataires qui continuent d'occuper un present Ontario rent control rules to the appartement,etce, selon destauxpratiqus proposed regime. sur le marchg etfix6s par un organisme gouvernemental. Enfin, l' auteurpropose un planpourfaire la transitiondu r9gime actuel de contr6le des loyers en Ontario au r~gimepropose.
    [Show full text]
  • Rational Reform of Housing Access Policy in Ontario
    Rational Reform of Housing Access Policy in Ontario by Benjamin Carter Ries A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Laws Graduate Department of the Faculty of Law University of Toronto Licensed CC BY-NC-ND by Benjamin Carter Ries 2011 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/ Rational Reform of Housing Access Policy in Ontario Benjamin Carter Ries Master of Laws Graduate Department of the Faculty of Law University of Toronto 2011 Abstract Ontario’s current regulatory approach to low-income housing lies between two primary challenges: the human right to housing, and political/fiscal constraints. This thesis draws on legal theory and economic analysis of law to articulate the proper goals of housing access policy. A structural theory is proposed to explain the normative relationship between efficiency, communitarianism and justice in housing. An array of regulatory options are compared and considered in light of the features that characterize Ontario’s low-income rental housing markets. This analysis favours demand-side housing subsidies to low-income households, combined with supply-side tax expenditures to improve elasticity in the low-income rental market. Further reform of rent and covenant controls, social and affordable housing supply, and land use planning is recommended to ensure an efficient residential tenancy market. These reforms are offered as a framework for the implementation of the human right to housing in Ontario. ii Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Michael Trebilcock for his supervision of this thesis. It has been a true privilege to draw upon his illustrious record of legal scholarship and expertise.
    [Show full text]
  • Journals of the Legislative Assmbly of The
    o .-\ JOURNALS OF THE Legislative Assembly OF THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO From the 21st of February to 10th of April, 1952 Both Days Inclusive. IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE REIGN OF OUR SOVEREIGN LADY QUEEN ELIZABETH II BEING THE First Session of the Twenty-Fourth Parliament of Ontario SESSION 1952 PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY VOL. LXXXVI ONTARIO TORONTO Printed and Published by Baptist Johnston, Piinter to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty 1952 INDEX Journals of the Legislative Assembly, Ontario 1 ELIZABETH II, 1952 1st SESSION TWENTY-FOURTH PARLIAMENT FEBRUARY 21st APRIL 10th, 1952 A CCOUNTS, PUBLIC: See Public Accounts. ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE EXPENSES ACT: Bill No. 38 to amend, introduced, 14. 2nd Reading and referred to Com- mittee on Legal Bills, 25. Reported as amended, 103. House in Com- mittee, 122. 3rd Reading, 125. Royal Assent, 177. (1 Eliz. II, cap. 1.) ADMINISTRATOR OF THE PROVINCE: His Proclamation calling the Assembly, 1. See also Lieutenant-Governor. ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE: See Legislative Assembly. ADOLESCENT SCHOOL ATTENDANCE ACT: Question No. 80 as to home permits and employment certificates issued under, 66. Answered, 110. AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE ACT: Bill No. 55 to amend, introduced, 22. 2nd Reading and referred to Com- mittee on Agriculture, 99. Reported, 123. House in Committee, 128. 3rd Reading, 137. Royal Assent, 177. (1 Eliz. II, cap. 2.) AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AND EXPERIMENTAL FARM: See Ontario Agricultural College. AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF PROVINCE: Measures to assist referred to in Speech from Throne, 7. fiii] iv INDEX 1952 AGRICULTURAL LOANS: Report of the Commissioner, 142. (Sessional Paper No.
    [Show full text]