A discussion paper by WinnipegRealtors about Manitoba’s acute rental shortage calls for immediate action now to turn around a long protracted shortage of rental housing. Winnipeg’s .8 per cent rental vacancy rate (the lowest vacancy rate of 34 census metropolitan centres surveyed by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. in fall 2010) is a contributing factor in making Winnipeg’s housing less affordable, says the report. It is also limiting good housing market choice and flexibility since rental is so scarce.
“There are some areas of Winnipeg where there is virtually nothing to rent so invariably any house that becomes available for sale becomes the only choice for someone to bid on,” says Mel Boisvert, chair of the WinnipegRealtors task force that produced the discussion paper. “First-time buyers in particular are finding it difficult because the entry level market under $200,000 is shrinking noticeably due to escalating house prices.”
The 7th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey has for the first time dropped Winnipeg’s ranking from affordable to moderately unaffordable. The association says, “We need to unclog the impediments and barriers to creating more rental supply. How can you continue to increase the number of immigrants without a plan to provide them with accessible and affordable accommodations?”
The discussion paper raises a number of issues such as rent regulation and also looks at what role each level of government can play in helping solve Manitoba’s rental shortage.
“There is no magic wand or quick fix,” said Boisvert. “Hopefully, some of the solutions we put forward in the discussion paper will be considered. Doing more of the same is not an option.”
Peter Squire, the association’s director of public affairs, says the report received a lot of media coverage. The provincial minister of housing has contacted the association and more discussions are planned about how to address the rental shortage in a manner fair to all parties concerned.
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Rentals are also a hot topic in Ontario, where rental property owners say “the rent dispute process is old and broken.” The Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO) says “owners spend thousands of dollars providing free housing to tenants who have not paid their rent” and are asking the provincial government to modernize the rent dispute process, bringing it in line with the majority of other Canadian provinces.
Vince Brescia
“No other business is required to provide goods or services without payment, yet landlords must by law allow tenants to remain in their apartments for months with faint hope of recovering the cost,” says Vince Brescia, FRPO president and CEO. “This situation is patently absurd. It places a huge financial burden on landlords, particularly small ones who must find ways of making up these expenses from rents charged to the majority of tenants who do meet their payments.”
Ontario has approximately 1.3 million rental households, representing just 29 per cent of the population. If tenants do not pay their rent on time, landlords in Ontario are required to go through a lengthy dispute-resolution process that will result in eviction only if payment is not made. Last year in Ontario, about 4.5 per cent of tenants required their landlords to use this process, says the federation. It says about two-thirds of tenants who fall into arrears do manage to make the rent payment, clear up their debt and retain their occupancy.
However, the federation says 1.5 per cent of tenants ultimately leave without paying their rent. It says these people take advantage of a lengthy process and remain in their units until it runs its course and they leave, or are removed. During this time, no rent is paid.
“With a typical monthly rent of $1,000 per month, that is a $3,000 subsidy in lost rent alone, excluding legal and application fees associated with the non-payment process,” Brescia says. “This is a large cost for one landlord to incur with respect to one unit. In the case of a small landlord, it is devastating. This process, including legal fees, costs the landlord anywhere between $5,200 and $6,500.”
FRPO is asking the provincial government to:
– reduce the initial removal notification period from the current 14 days to five days
– require hearings to take place in five days instead of the current 29 days
– eliminate the 11-day delay to file for removal with the sheriff once the Landlord and Tenant Board approves termination
– allow private bailiffs to enforce the eviction instead of waiting six to eight weeks for the sheriff to do it.
