Doug Ford may fully end rent control in Ontario
Surely mass evictions will solve the housing crisis
In one of the more sinister moves we’ve seen from the province—and that’s saying a lot, because we live in Toronto—the Ontario government has tabled a bill that would effectively end rent control.
The Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, announced yesterday, proposes to remove regulatory barriers from the construction of homes, roads and infrastructure by amending over 40 provincial policies, including the Ontario Building Code, the provincial driver’s licensing system and, sure, why not, there’s some low-grade anti–bike lane propaganda in there too. (The act says it will “keep people and goods moving by prohibiting the reduction of vehicle lanes when municipalities install new bicycle lanes.”)
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Understandably, it’s the Ford government’s proposed amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act that really have Torontonians on edge. The province will explore changes to “security of tenure,” which allows tenants to remain in their units as long as they follow the conditions of their lease and abide by the RTA. Landlords aren’t allowed to evict tenants unless they have a legally valid reason.
The Ford government said the new act would allow landlords “to adjust tenancy arrangements based on market conditions, personal needs, or business strategies.” This would potentially allow landlords to raise rent as high as they want and to evict tenants whenever they feel like it.
As reported by CTV News, Attorney General Doug Downey attempted to justify the proposed changes by explaining that they’re meant to encourage prospective landlords to put units on the market. “I’m convinced, if we get the right balance, we’ll unlock tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of new units, and those will be places that people that currently don’t have a place to be will be able to rent,” he said.
In a city where 48 per cent of people rent, the clownish idea that mass evictions will solve the housing crisis would make us laugh if it weren’t such a ghastly premise.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
