1893 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Government should take an equity stake

 

 

Re: “Catherine Street rental-housing project gets green light despite concerns,” Aug. 5.

 

I don’t have a strong opinion about the specific pros and cons of the rental development on Catherine Street. However, one sentence in the report caught my eye.

 

“When the project starts will depend on government financing, as doing a rental project with a traditional lender is not feasible at current rates.”

 

It is taken as a fact that governments have to finance this project, either from existing revenue or by borrowing at market rates, then subsidizing projects at less-than-market rates.

 

If taxpayers are funding new rental projects, governments should ask for equity stakes in those projects.

 

It makes no sense to invest in new rental housing for zero equity, then to talk about contributing millions more to a special fund, so governments (or their agencies) can purchase existing rental properties and provide homes at less-than-market rents.

 

It is a good idea for governments to become owners of rental property for their citizens — or part owners, in deals with commercial companies.

 

Why shouldn’t that ownership begin with an equity stake for every dollar invested to finance construction of new rental projects?

 

 

George Jamieson
Victoria

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...s-money-5679437

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 10 August 2022 - 03:40 AM.

[spanky123]

^ The much larger issue is buildings that are subsidized for lower income tenants which then never provide lower income rentals or do so at the nebulous “10% below market” which somehow is still more expensive than anything else nearby!

[Mike K.]

New stuff is going to be expensive, certainly more than old stuff. I can imagine a 2022-build affordable rental will land higher per square foot than the 1970s block next door.

 

I mean the entry level, brand new Chevy sedan is still more expensive than a 1995 Cadillac, right?

[spanky123]

^ Then what is the point of providing millions of dollars a year to subsidize housing for the poor if the people who wind up being subsidized are the wealthy who can afford the new units? Is there evidence that middle income people move up and free up their space or do newcomers just come into the market and outbid them on the new developments anyways?!

[Mike K.]

It theoretically leads to upwards mobility, freeing up the older, less costlier units for those who can’t afford the brand new below-market units.

The suppliers of housing can’t control who gets it, and mobility is a freedom enjoyed by Canadians.

[Mike K.]

I also expect developers who operate below market units in market buildings to be transparent about their intake process. I don’t think there are any shenanigans going on and below market units are tethered to income maximums.

In any case, building more rentals and feeling good about that is not a long term solution. More homeownership should be council’s goal, not perpetual renting.

[Citified.ca]

How much longer are Victoria renters spending in rental housing due to high homeownership costs?

 

How many purpose-built rental units are actually vacant in Victoria's rental market?

 

How are inflation rates and interest rates impacting the rental market?

 

Those questions, and more, are discussed in this month's Ten on the 10th Q&A segment, featuring Devon Properties' new COO Renee St. Germaine.

 

Q&A on Victoria's rental housing market with Devon Properties COO Renee St. Germaine

https://victoria.cit...ee-st-germaine/

[spanky123]

I also expect developers who operate below market units in market buildings to be transparent about their intake process. I don’t think there are any shenanigans going on and below market units are tethered to income maximums.

In any case, building more rentals and feeling good about that is not a long term solution. More homeownership should be council’s goal, not perpetual renting.

 

And that is the $64K question. Is there a way of checking which developers are honouring their agreements and which are not? Does everything just fall into a 3rd party housing administrator black hole?

[spanky123]

How much longer are Victoria renters spending in rental housing due to high homeownership costs?

 

I would think that the single biggest reason why renters are staying in their rentals longer is rent controls. If your rent is locked in forever at what is turning out to be a maximum of 1%-2% annual increases then you are in no rush to ever move up or out!

[Mike K.]

There’s that, absolutely, but the bigger motivator would still be homeownership no matter how good your rent might be (for the overwhelming majority who can make the switch, I mean).

Based on Renee St. Germaine’s info, renters are now phasing out at 35-38 years of age, after starting in their early 20s. A decade-plus ago it was 32-35 for the phaseout.

[Victoria Watcher]

Victoria rents are climbing faster than anywhere else in the country.

According to the latest national rent report from Rentals.ca, average rents over all property types in Victoria jumped a Canadian high 27 per cent in July over the same month in 2021, going to $2,667 from $2,093, a figure that had increased 15 per cent from 2020.

https://www.vicnews....y-in-past-year/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 August 2022 - 05:19 AM.

[Barrrister]

Is that CofV or the CRD

[Redd42]

I would think that the single biggest reason why renters are staying in their rentals longer is rent controls. If your rent is locked in forever at what is turning out to be a maximum of 1%-2% annual increases then you are in no rush to ever move up or out!

 

My rent seemed insane 8 years ago. Now it is a steal. I try to stay out of my landlady's way and tell her how happy I am to live here. She also didn't ever change my rent until this year. So yeah no rush to move.

 

And you actually see that in a lot of rental places. This is something that is not talked about, in our rental "crisis". People holding on to rental units even though they moved away. I have friends who have done it and seen it in my own house. I would guess that a lot of apts in Victoria are kept by people as very inexpensive vacation units for themselves. Not AirBnb. But those renters come there a few months of the year. And some of these folks rented a long time ago. They are probably paying a very low amount to keep a place to vacation in Victoria.

[Victoria Watcher]

Is that CofV or the CRD

Yes very hard to tell. They broke out Greater Vancouver municipalities. They even broke Toronto down into neighbourhoods. But no indication how they handled Victoria.

[lanforod]

So we need a vacancy tax for units that are rented but vacant too much, eh?

[Nparker]

The NDP have never met a tax they didn't like.

[lanforod]

The NDP have never met a tax they didn't like.

I present to you: the HST (though secretly they liked it).

[Redd42]

So we need a vacancy tax for units that are rented but vacant too much, eh?

 

Never said there should be a tax. But it is a phenomenon that is never mentioned - just AirBnb.

 

But if I had a friend who did it - kept his very cheap apt on Vancouver St for years past when he lived there, occasionally lending it out, and saw it done in my own rental, these very well off people who had a property up island who would come here for a few days every few months, how many more out there are there. Great to have neighbours like that though! I never had to worry about making noise.

[Redd42]

I present to you: the HST (though secretly they liked it).

 

As a business I liked it - it was all deductible, unlike now just the GST.

[Nparker]

I present to you: the HST (though secretly they liked it).

Of course the HST was proposed and removed by the BC Liberals.