PROPOSAL FOR RENTAL PROPERTY BYLAW TO UNDERGO PUBLIC CONSULTATION
North Battleford’s rental property situation is about to get a closer look following Monday night’s council meeting. “Under the mandate of council’s strategic plan, subsequent discussions related to community safety, community standards and housing challenges and as a result from complaints from the public and general community regarding substandard rental properties, the administration was directed to develop an approach to develop inventory for residential rental properties in the city,”...
read moreWEEK OF JULY 8 2024 NEWSREEL WITH VANESSA TOPPLE
This week, three different reports with the conclusion that the housing industry is precarious, both now and in the future. We discuss reports from RBC on new construction, an Angus Reid poll on immigration and third, from StatsCan on population....
read moreTORONTO COUNCIL SUPPORTS ACCELERATION OF RENTAL HOUSING PROJECTS
Toronto City Council has approved recommendations in staff reports that will allocate $351 million in capital funding to 18 affordable rental housing projects, enabling construction to start in 2024 and 2025. The funding will help almost 6,000 new rental homes including 2,600 affordable rental and 3,380 rent-controlled homes currently delayed in pre-development phases move forward towards construction, stated a release. The city’s new Rental Housing Supply Program proposes a framework to...
read moreB.C. GOVERNMENT TO LAUNCH WEBSITE TO COMBAT ‘BAD FAITH’ EVICTIONS
The B.C. government says a new online portal launching this month will combat bad-faith evictions made by landlords who falsely claim to be putting a property to “personal use,” only to increase rent on the unit. The Ministry of Housing says the Landlord Use Web Portal will go live on July 18 and will require landlords to generate eviction notices under the Residential Tenancy Act’s provision allowing tenants to be evicted from a unit if a family member or caretaker intends...
read moreCANADIAN RENTAL HOUSING CRISIS: A CALL FOR LOW-INCOME HOUSING TAX CREDIT
Canada faces a significant challenge in its rental housing crisis due to a lack of new affordable units being built. Despite efforts through the National Housing Strategy’s five programs, only 17,000 units were delivered over four years, barely improving Ottawa’s track record from the past 30 years. For instance, between 1996 and 2013, provincial and federal governments provided less than 7,000 new units. On the other hand, between 1987 and 2021, the United States constructed 3.5 million...
read moreRETIREES TAKING A LARGE CHUNK OF THE RENTAL MARKET
One third of Canadian households are renters. And although it’s a common belief that older people are big on property ownership, a key part of the renting pool are Gen Xers and boomers. New census data released by Statistics Canada show renters by individual and by age, instead of household. In Vancouver and Toronto, 30 per cent of individuals over the age of 55 are renters. “This is the first time this population has been broken down by age and made available, so we learn a little more about...
read moreWEEK OF JULY 1 2024 NEWSREEL WITH VANESSA TOPPLE
This week a government program negatively affecting housing. The Federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program and its abuses....
read moreCANADIAN POPULATION EXPECTED TO HIT 63 MILLION BY 2073, LIFE EXPECTANCY FALLS FURTHER
Canada’s population is expected to slow in growth but still add a whole lot of people. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data released this morning shows they expect growth to slow. The population is expected to hit 63 million people by 2073, driven almost exclusively by migration. At the same time, the country’s older population is set to explode, which will lead to pressure on resources such as healthcare. Pressures will be less pronounced after they reach their demographic peak, but that will...
read moreB.C. SEES RECORD STRETCH OF PEOPLE MOVING OUT-OF-PROVINCE – AND MANY ARE HEADED TO ALBERTA
B.C. has recorded its largest period of interprovincial migration losses in 20 years, with more than 12,800 people moving elsewhere in Canada since July 2022, according to Statistics Canada. It’s the first time in a decade B.C. has seen 15 months in a row of more people moving out-of-province than it gains — and most are moving to Alberta in the exodus, StatsCan said Tuesday. From July to September 2023, B.C. lost net 4,634 people to other provinces, its second-greatest quarterly dip...
read moreNOVA SCOTIA TO OVERHAUL PUBLIC HOUSING RENTS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Nova Scotia is overhauling its public housing rent system, transitioning fixed-rate rents to an income-based model for over 1,400 tenants. The changes will mainly affect tenants with higher incomes, who will see their rents rise gradually over the next few years. Housing minister John Lohr said the new model aims to create a “fairer and more consistent” system. Under the new system, tenants with higher incomes will see their rent increase by 5% annually for the first three years....
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