No housing crisis, says Plante
Valérie Plante says there’s no housing crisis and indeed there have been years when the city has publicized a phone number offering help to people getting close to moving day with nowhere to go, but I haven’t seen that mentioned this year.
Gianni 12:21 on 2019-06-27 Permalink
Eliminate Régie du Logement du Québec (rental control) and you will solve the housing crisis in the Montreal. Nobody wants to build appartment buildings as for La Régie du Logement du Québec will always favor leaser and not owner. Should do as all other provinces in Canada let free market decide not a mayor that does not understand how it works.
CE 13:21 on 2019-06-27 Permalink
@Gianni: It’s pretty obvious you’ve never rented an apartment in another province of Canada. Here’s a small list of all the fantastic gifts the free market gives you: Paying two months of rent before you move in, probably not getting that month of rent back when you move out (landlords are pretty creative or just straight up bullshitters when they give reasons not to give your deposit back), rent increases of whatever the landlord decides, very few options to fight exploitative landlords, high rents.
From the perspective of someone who has rented with and without the Régie du Logement, getting rid of it is madness!
Blork 15:12 on 2019-06-27 Permalink
Also, the Régie du Logement du Québec is under provincial jurisdiction, not municipal, so it has nothing to do with the mayor, and it’s been there since 1974 (the same year Valérie Plante was born).
Ian 17:35 on 2019-06-27 Permalink
Ah yes, Gianni, the old trickle down approach. Doesn’t work with corporate tax breaks, and it definitely doesn’t work with property development.
Whenever you see a law in place, it’s because somebody did something awful that the people in charge decided there should be a law against. Similarly, the Régie exists because people were getting screwed by landlords. That said, good luck ever getting a dime out of your landlord if you bring them to the Régie and can’t afford a lawyer.
We are lucky to have some form of rent control in place but we all know that landlords skirt that rule as often as possible. The price of a 4 and a half didn’t go from 800 a month to 1600 a month in Mile end over 5 years because people moved out so often the landlords were able to make incremental increases to that effect.