Repealing the Rent Control Act
Repealing the Rent Control ActIn a just society, the ruling authority must decide what is
right when allocating wealth to its individual citizens. The same
ruling authority does this by intervening with the inner workings of a
marketplace to uphold its fundamental values and ideals. The aim of
government intervention is to create a just society that will reflect
the people�s values. Governing bodies do this by establishing laws
that enforce fairness or �equity�. The Ontario government passed the
Rent Control Act in 1975. The law levels the playing field between
landlords and tenants. New units are exempt from controls for their
first five years after which the controls are put into place. The
controls put a ceiling on annual rent increases. Under current law, a
landlord may only increase a tenants� rent by 2% plus inflation.1 As
with all other markets, the housing market is based on supply and
demand. If the nature of the market were allowed to take its course,
then the price of housing would become unaffordable for most citizens.
An unfair situation would be created where power and money would be
disproportionately appropriated to land owners. Rent control laws were
established by previous governments to protect society and its people
from inflated and uncontrollable housing costs. The Harris government
now wants to repeal these laws. On June 25 the Minister of Housing,
Al Leach, released a policy paper outlining the changes that are to be
made to Ontario�s rent laws. Conservative legislators plan to pass the
proposed �Tenant Protection Act� in the fall. The omnibus legislation
will rescind the Rent Control Act, the Landlord and Tenant Act, the
Rental Housing Protection Act, Residents� Rights Act, the Land Lease
Statute Amendment Act, the Vital Services Act.2 The most objectionable
change allows the act to lift controls off vacant units. The 3.2
million renters in Ontario are very concerned about the changes.3 The
housing ministry will accept written submissions from the public until
August 30. Public hearings are also planned in hope that they will
ease the transition. However, most people are indignant towards the
idea. Changing the rent control laws would be detrimental to society
as they threaten citizens� positive right to affordable housing, harm
their mobility rights and increase the gap between the rich and the
poor.
The proposed �Tenant Protection Act� assaults peoples� right
to affordable housing. If people are to adhere to a basic standard of
living, then the cost of their homes must be affordable. But what
exactly is affordable? The Ministry of Housing released a report
stating that 70,000 Toronto house holds (20% of the city�s population)
do not have affordable housing. The report explains that a tenants'
housing is unaffordable if they are paying more than a quarter of
their gross income in rent. This is an alarming thought since some
renters are paying 70-80% of their gross income in rent.4 The problem
of high...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.