Affordable Housing

Think of an iceberg, with its visible tip but most of it underwater. It’s a good way to think about those affected by the housing affordability crisis. People who once were housed but are now experiencing homelessness are the visible tip of the housing affordability crisis. They are the most obvious, and hardest hit, victims … Read more

CN Rail is still holding up work to creating affordable and market housing on the former Jamesville CityHousing Site. The project is to build 46 CityHousing units, with rents geared to income, up to 120 Indwell affordable units and 364 private market units on the site on James North at Strachan West. But CN continues … Read more

Canada’s Competition Bureau is investigating a range of tools that landlords and other businesses use to set rents and other prices. These tools are based on algorithms that use data not normally available, from many landlords, to propose what rent to charge on a unit. At issue is whether this allows landlords to collude in … Read more

A new study shows just how aggressively so-called “financialized” landlords push up rents. These landlords—asset managers, Real Estate Investment Trusts and pension plans—own about 20 per cent of purpose-built rentals in Canada and exist to maximize profit for shareholders. The study shows they charge rents significantly higher than all other types of landlords–$670 above neighbourhood … Read more

When city forces pushed homeless encampments off the rail trail recently, leaving the people living there with no place to go, some of those evicted set up tents at city hall. It’s not an encampment, it’s a protest against the indignity and violence of the city’s clearing of encampments. On Tuesday, bylaw and police officers, … Read more