02/27/2024
Copied and pasted from Ontario's Landlord Watch. Yes, I'm considering it too.
It's unfortunate that we have so many people in our community depending on the shelter system. The demand for shelters and emergency shelters is growing, and it's crucial that our elected officials at all levels of government are aware of this and take action to address the housing industry's challenges.
Unfortunately, private housing providers are leaving Ontario, opting to sell their rentals to homeowners instead of offering rental units to citizens in need. Landlords are departing due to the unfair and unjust Residential Tenancy Act, a broken Landlord and Tenant Board, and municipal policies that discourage investment in cities. With private partners stepping away, the pressure on the government to build, manage, maintain, and subsidize all housing is mounting.
The rental industry deserves to be respected as a business, but the government has essentially turned private landlords into social agencies without compensation. This makes it extremely risky for private owners to join programs or invest in Ontario's rental market.
It's hard to create housing solutions with the same mindset that created the crisis. As Albert Einstein famously said, 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.'
