OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) — A Canadian federal housing advocate has suggested that drug trafficking be decriminalized in homeless encampments in the name of “dignity.”
Federal Housing Advocate Marie-Josée Houle’s proposal entitled, “Treat Encampment Residents With Dignity And Respect,” encouraged Members of Parliament (MPs) to consider decriminalizing drug trafficking in tent cities, according to an October 25 article by Blacklock’s Reporter.
The average home price in Canada is 141 per cent higher than what a Canadian household making the median income can afford, according to new data from RATESDOTCA.
The report published Thursday looked at data on home prices and median earnings for Canadian households.
It found that a Canadian family earning the median household income of $79,876 can reasonably afford a $315,000 home, with a maximum insured mortgage of $299,500.
However, the average home price in Canada is currently $757,600, the report noted – considerably pricier than what the average household can afford.
Over the weekend, Ontario Premier Doug Ford issued a letter calling on the Bank of Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to halt any upcoming interest rate hikes.
“There is simply no excuse for increasing the already crushing pressure previous interest rate hikes have placed on so many families and businesses,” Ford said.
TORONTO – A new survey suggests the number of Canadians struggling with their monthly mortgage payment is on the rise, along with worries of potentially higher payments when it comes time to renew with their lender.
Around 15 per cent of borrowers say they find the financial aspect of their mortgage “very difficult,” up from 11 per cent in June and eight per cent in March, according to data released on Monday by the Angus Reid Institute.
Federal housing advocate Marie-Josee Houle has called the spread of homeless encampments in cities across Canada a human rights crisis.
“People living in encampments face some of the most vulnerable circumstances of any member of Canadian society … they have experienced a history of human rights violations and are at heightened risk of further violations,” her office wrote in an interim report on encampments published this month.
Data shows the number of applications landlords have filed to evict tenants for personal use in 2023 so far has already surpassed the total number of applications in 2022.
In Ontario, landlords can use something called an N12 eviction notice to force tenants to move out of an apartment if the owner, a member of their immediate family, or a caregiver wants to move in. An N12 can also be issued for the same reasons by someone who’s just bought a property.
From January through September 2023, 1,767 N12 evictions have been applied for in Toronto, according to data from the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB). That’s well above the total applications made in 2022: 1,312.
Not a surprise thanks to Trudeaunomics.
New $674.5M capital plan would increase shelter beds by 1,600 over next decade
Over half of Toronto’s shelter spaces for the unhoused aren’t financially sustainable, according to city civil servants proposing a new 10-year plan to replace them with city-owned facilities.
Staff are making the pitch in a capital plan aimed at fundamentally changing the way the city operates its shelters for people experiencing homelessness.
The city added thousands of shelter beds during the pandemic to create necessary space between people using the service, signing leases with hotels to provide the accommodations. But staff have long-warned that those leases are set to expire in late 2024 and are not financially viable in the long-term.
Advocates say short-term rentals listed on Airbnb are showing up in some Toronto condo buildings in concerning numbers, contributing to the deterioration of local neighbourhoods and the surge in rental prices.
A new analysis of City of Toronto data by non-profit advocacy group Fairbnb Canada found that 600 short-term rentals, also known as STRs, are located within three condo buildings alone.
The group’s executive director, Thorben Wieditz, says it raises concerns over whether these units are operating as “ghost hotels” without being zoned or taxed that way.
After fleeing his home in Ukraine, Volodymyr Komliev and his family have found themselves a new place to live in a High Park apartment building — but after hearing about the rent increases his neighbours experienced this year, he’s worried if they’ll be able to stay.
Komliev said when they looked for a new place to live with their four-year-old daughter, they knew a big city would be expensive. But they didn’t expect rents could increase so much each year — some tenants saying they’ve received between six to 11 per cent year-over-year hikes, according to the building’s tenant association.
Mass immigration evidently helps reduce housing shortages we’re told.
Canada’s rental crisis is getting worse, according to a new report that found the average asking price for rent in September was $2,149 — up by more than 11 per cent compared to a year ago.
That’s according a data analysis of tens of thousands of new rental listings across the country from Rentals.ca and real estate consulting and research firm Urbanation.
And according to the September report, average rents aren’t just headed up — they’re increasing at their fastest pace this year.
GRAPHIC VIDEO: Hamas terrorists methodically shoot at every portable toilet at the Israeli desert rave to make sure no partygoers survive pic.twitter.com/SVWFgN6dOy
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) October 13, 2023
When it comes to solving a problem as complicated as Toronto’s housing crisis, there’s no such thing as a silver bullet, says one expert.
CBC Toronto spoke to Douglas Kwan, the director of advocacy and legal services at the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, and other housing experts after hearing from hundreds of our readers about how hard it is to be a tenant in the city. We asked them about some of your most popular ideas to help curb the rampant unaffordability.
Justin will keep the immigration floodgates open so why bother speculating about a fix?
Despite a desperate need for new housing, Canada’s developers are building fewer homes than they were at the height of pandemic lockdowns, a new study says – and experts say that could mean a generation of Canadians won’t be able to afford homes for most of their adult lives.
Inflation and the Bank of Canada’s response to it, has been the main reason for the slowdown, according to David Macdonald, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new decline in housing development started last year, when the Bank of Canada started to raise interest rates to cool the economy and combat inflation, Macdonald found in a new report for CCPA.
Look what Volkswagen and Stelantis got. Makes sense to have Junior come begging.
It’s amazing what the Marines have to put up with, situated as they are on the edge of a big blue city full of wokesters with bright ideas.
In July, 2020, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem assured Canadian households that borrowing rates were very low and would stay that way “for a very long time.”
And by all appearances, it looked like he would be right. The economy was in shambles amid widespread shutdowns and sky-high unemployment because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many turned to government financial supports to afford basic necessities and keep businesses afloat. Inflation remained low.
Bad but then there’s … Brampton landlord renting out sad room where you can’t eat meat or drink in the house
