Rent Control Filibuster

The Liberals and NDP filibustered the Alberta Legislature last night when the Tories tried to sneak their toothless rent control bill through the Legislature.

Tories refuse rent debate

Marathon debate over soaring rents keeps Alberta legislators up all night

Canadian Press

Published: Thursday, May 10, 2007

EDMONTON (CP) - An overnight debate in the Alberta legislature over new housing legislation had NDP Leader Brian Mason ordering pizzas and Liberal members stashing food.

Mason says he felt like a kid at a sleepover as he ordered fast food for his NDP colleagues and shared food with security staff. Liberal Leader Kevin Taft didn't join the marathon debate about whether rent controls should be brought in, but his members stashed food in the assembly to keep up their strength.

Government whip Frank Oberle said rent controls would stifle construction of new housing units, so the legislation that eventually passed second reading did not include them.

It instead limits rent increases to once a year, increases fines for landlords who ignore the rules and give tenants more notice when their apartments are being converted to condos.

Opposition politicians say that's sadly inadequate for thousands of people facing huge rent hikes, forcing some to leave Alberta in search of cheaper housing.

Rent legislation debate goes overnight (9:35 a.m.)

edmontonjournal.com

Published: Thursday, May 10, 2007

EDMONTON - In a rare move, the Alberta legislature sat all night to debate the Conservative government's controversial rent legislation.

The New Democrats introduced an amendment about 8:30 a.m. today to bring in rent guidelines. The amendment is still being debated.

Liberal-sponsored amendments to the legislation - Bill 34, the Tenancies Statutes Amendment Act - were passed early this morning.

The legislation will limit rent increases to once per year and require landlords to give tenants a year's notice before turning their buildings into condominiums.

But the government has steadfastly refused to include rent controls in the legislation even though a committee recommended rent-control legislation.

The Liberals said in a prepared statement today one of their amendments doubles the fines for landlords who violate the rules on condo conversions.

The debate was continuing this morning. Live video of the legislature is available at http://media.assembly.ab.ca/livevideo.

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Ed Stelmach, housing, rental, condominium, apartment, Boardwalk Reality, Income Trusts, rent controls, homelessness,

Just Say No

The Alberta Tories continue their war on.....affordable housing and rent controls....delegates at the Alberta PC AGM reject rent controls.

"Rent controls and all other sorts of initiatives are sort of like a drug," delegate Jon Lord, a former Tory legislature member, told delegates prior to the vote. "They're very addictive, and they're difficult to get off of once you start down that road."

So having access to affordable housing makes you like a junkie. Under the Tories you can go join all the other folks who have addictions living on the street.

But of course the fact is we have had rent controls in Alberta before, and yes they were brought in however reluctantly by this very same PC party. But of course lets not let the facts get in the way of the myth of the free market.

Even Coun. Terry Cavanagh, who once had the job of phasing out provincial rent controls, urged Stelmach to look seriously at bringing them back.

Alberta introduced rent controls in 1975, when inflation soared. Coun. Terry Cavanagh was chairman of the provincial rent decontrol board that oversaw the phase-out of the controls between 1977 and 1980.

Cavanagh said Sunday that Stelmach should consider rent controls again, regardless how delegates voted. Its something the province has to look at, when you have people whose rents are going from $550 to $1,100.

Their wages arent going up 100 per cent, he said. Its going to be difficult for them to pay.
The Conservative convention heard rent controls are addictive and, once begun, are hard to end.

Cavanagh said controls phased out in an orderly fashion when he ran the decontrol board. Landlords were allowed limited annual increases so that, once an apartments rent exceeded a certain amount, controls came off.

That way the pricier units, presumably occupied by higher-income tenants, came off controls first, he said.

You might wonder what time period the PC's are stuck in....Rick Bell in his Calgary Sun column says the chosen people who attended the AGM come from the time of Howdy Doody...that glorious post WWII boom period which had no inflation....

Talk about the blind leading the blind. The majority of the Tory party are like the Beverly Hillbillies next to Unsteady Eddie's Green Acres cabinet.

They are a good cross section of Alberta ... in 1962.

Remember they didn't even know there was a boom until last year. Their crowd has been in power so long they don't care what mere mortals think.

That's why we are treated to the illogic of Lovable Lloyd Snelgrove, the power behind the Tory throne with the fancy handle of President of the Treasury Board, shamelessly thinking if he limits gouging to once a year instead of twice annually, it's "a good start."

Lloyd is the guy who doesn't make much sense when he defends scuttling the government's own task force's idea of two-year guidelines: inflation plus 2% plus more for added expenses, hardly a draconian design.

Then he says temporary rent controls won't encourage investment in new housing. Lloyd, read the affordable housing report. A cap on rent hikes is seen as a short-term deal.

Besides, without rent controls, where's all this supposed building of rental units now?

Yep during this long boom with no rent controls we have actually seen apartment construction decline in Alberta.

So if there are no rent controls what will the government do instead to stop the gouging?

"Gouging? Landlords are gouging? That's news to me" says Honest Ed the Chief Tory Salesman

Guess he missed the Stats Can Report on housing, and all the articles published in Calgary this past year.

Stelmach must have thought he looked compassionate when he talked to reporters about how upset he is with landlords gouging tenants with huge rent increases.

"I've heard about these absolutely astronomical rent increases that really are un-Albertan," Stelmach said in advance of his speech to the Tories' annual convention in Edmonton. "We have to look after the vulnerable. A thousand- dollars-a-month increase is beyond reason."

The $1,000-a-month increase was a reference to the story, raised by Alberta's NDP during question period on Thursday, of a 74-year-old widow in Edmonton facing a tripling of her rent from $595 a month to $1,595.

Indeed, for a few moments his message was all about compassion and how his government was angry with unscrupulous landlords. And he hinted that maybe his government will revisit its opposition to rent controls depending on what happens during debates at this weekend's convention.

But then some Calgary journalists began poking at Stelmach. Why was he so upset with the story of one Edmonton woman? Didn't he realize Calgary tenants have been hit by huge rent increases for months?

That's when Stelmach unwittingly unholstered the gun and took aim at himself.

"I wasn't aware of anybody getting a $1,000 increase," he said. Bang.

The Calgary journalists were gobsmacked. They have been writing stories about Calgarians being hit by $1,000 rent increases since last August. There have been so many of those stories that journalists have stopped reporting on them and have moved on to heartbreaking tales of tenants being gouged by $2,000 a month rent hikes.

And here's Stelmach saying he's not aware of what's going on in Alberta's largest city. He tried to look compassionate but ended up looking clueless

So the Tories solution is to meet landlords and tell them gouging, whatever that is, is not nice. And then threaten them...with rent controls.....I can see Boardwalk REIT shaking in their boots right now.....

The hikes are making a mockery of Stelmach's promise to do what's right for all Albertans. In a free enterprise economy, the kind the Stelmach government supports, he's doing what's right for all Alberta landlords. The only thing guiding the economic tiller is Adam Smith's invisible hand. The problem is this hand is steering the government towards the rocks.

Stelmach has ruled out rent controls as un-Conservative. Without rent controls, however, some landlords are jacking up people's rents so high that Stelmach has complained they're "un-Albertan."

So, what's a government to do when hoisted on its own ideological petard?

It goes behind closed doors and threatens landlords that unless they stop exercising their rights in a free market economy -- the very rights that the government purports to support -- the government might have to take drastic action against landlords, including, say government sources, the possibility of rent controls.

Lots of folks are coming to Alberta to work, lots of Alberta businesses need workers, but workers have nowhere to live. One would think that this simple equation workers = renters would sink into the troglodyte Tories tiny dinosaur brains.

Housing a priority for eastern jobseekers

Which means that once again we have a government that has no plan for dealing with the boom and the resulting housing crisis. Except to repeat that famous Klein line; "let the eastern bastards freeze in the dark."

See:

Housing

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Premier, Alberta Cabinet,PC, Party of Calgary, politics, leadership, Conservatives

No New Apartments in Alberta

Boardwalk REIT claims it would have to raise rents to $1650 a month in order to have enough cash to build new apartments in Alberta, thus its opposition to rent control. However Boardwalk has not built any apartments, as a REIT it buys up existing properties.

Meanwhile the Stelmach government ignores the recommendations of its own public committee to implement rent controls. Claiming it would discourage apartment construction.

Except all current conversions and construction of multiple person dwellings are not apartments but condos, cause thats where the money is.

Developers have not been building rental units in Alberta, even without rent controls. Despite the rapid growth in the Edmonton area, there were 5,050 fewer rental units last year than in 1987, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

See:

Inflation In Alberta

Housing


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Inflation In Alberta

As reported in a couple of the Edmonton Sun columns by their token Left Winger (wink, wink) Neil Waugh, inflation in Alberta was up again.

The sharp jump in wages was almost matched with a 4.5% increase in consumer prices.

But it was not due to wages increasing nope, it was due to the over heated housing market, which keeps going up.

The continued strength of Alberta's energy-based economy resulted in Edmonton's housing market outperforming expectations, making it the hottest market in Canada in the quarter. During the first quarter, the price for a standard two-story house rose 54.4 percent in Edmonton and 27.4 percent in Calgary, Alberta, while the average national rise was 11.8 percent.

And considering the price of the mythical single-family dwelling has increased 16.5% in the first three months of 2007 - and now stands at $398,476 - that's either good news or bad news, depending on what side of the deal you're on.

If you'd bought or sold a year ago, the price you would have to pay has increased by an incredible 55.6% since then. Needless to say, it's a year-to-year record, as are all the other March stats the EREB keeps.

So far in 2007, board realtors have cleared $2.14 billion in sales, which is 80% higher than last year's pace. And that was hardly a recession year either.

In fact the "threat" of another huge spike in house prices has "sparked an early rush for new and resale houses," the ComFree monthly report cautioned.

Earlier this week the Calgary Real Estate Board revealed 3,939 combined residential sales in March (a new record) and the average sales price inched up 5.6% from February.

But that's a 27% year-to-year increase from last March. CREB president Ed Jensen called it an "interesting" month. No kidding, Ed.

But he also reported a 32% jump in listings over last year, which may mean that folks are trying to cash in on their windfall equity before it disappears like campfire smoke.

ComFree reports its average house price also bumped up 8% in March to $350,300.

And of course inflation is caused by those who exploit this hot housing market. Now usually when inflation increases workers wages are blamed and you can expect interest rates to climb or bosses to fight for claw backs. But when it comes to inflation caused by housing costs, well no one yet has implemented the solution; Rent controls.

But even down at the legislature last week the Alberta Tories were beginning to feel the heat over inflation.

Especially when Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason grilled Premier Ed Stelmach over when the PCs' affordable housing report will finally be released. It contains recommendations to put a clamp on soaring rental rates.

One of the province's biggest landlords, Boardwalk Real Estate Income Trust, recently gave the opposition more ammo when CEO Sam Kolias revealed in his year-end report to unit holders how he "maximized return" by responding to what he called "exceptionally strong market fundamentals.

"As occupancy tracked upward due to positive supply and demand forces," Kolias beamed, "rental rates followed suit, resulting in strong revenue growth."

And with 52% of his property portfolio right here in Boom-berta, he predicted his "proactive operating policies" would result in even greater revenue growth in 2007.

Unless, of course, the PCs implement their own report and slap on rent controls.

Meanwhile the average Albertan even with a good paying job cannot afford to buy a home,

Most Albertans think this is a bad time to buy a house -- but a good time to buy major household items. Leger Marketing surveyed 900 Alberta consumers for PricewaterhouseCoopers, in February, asking about the economy.Leger's report noted "the relatively pessimistic sentiment regarding interest rates, combined with the fact that the housing market in Alberta has boomed over the last two years."

So who is doing all the buying? Why speculators of course hoping to flip the house in the market to make money.

See:

Condos The Problem

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Condos The Problem

In Alberta rents are rising 400% in Calgary. Edmonton is just as bad. Rent controls are needed. But of course the Alberta Government opposes rent controls.

In an interview Friday, Service Alberta Minister Lloyd Snelgrove said rent controls are a no-go."It just discourages landlords from building any new (units)," Snelgrove said. "It might seem a good thing for the person in that apartment at the time, but for the 2,000 people that are moving to town next month, there will be no buildings.

What a lot of blather and bullshit, landlords have not built any new apartments in years, the developers are all building condo's or transforming existing apartments into condo's.

While big property companies buy up existing apartments and slap a coat of paint on them and up the rents. Forcing renters to now become homeless.

Calgary based Boardwalk bought up many independent rental properties across Canada, making itself one of the largest rental monopolies in the country and one the largest REIT Income Trusts.

   Commenting on the Trust's Q3 2006 results, Sam Kolias, President and
C.E.O., said
"We are pleased to report a strong third quarter for our Trust. Excellent
market fundamentals aligned to produce positive effects on the Alberta rental
market. After the strong summer we just enjoyed, our Trust is positioned to
end 2006 on a high note. We anticipate a solid winter and remain confident in
meeting or exceeding the majority of objectives detailed in our 2005 Annual
Report.
"The rental market remains robust in Alberta, as substantial net
provincial in-migration, high home prices, exceptional industry growth and
record low unemployment combine to generate solid demand. Our Alberta market,
which makes up in excess of 50% of our total portfolio, saw its already low
vacancy decrease still further through the third quarter."
"Current average monthly market rents in Alberta increased by
approximately $328 in the first nine months of 2006, from $817 as at
December 31, 2005, to $1,145 at September 30, 2006. Even as rents increase,
however, the gap between home and condominium ownership costs versus the cost
of renting continues to widen still further, pricing many would-be homeowners
out of the market. Given the 45% gains in house purchase prices seen across
Alberta in the past year, rental rate increases prove to be substantially more
affordable than home purchase. In fact, increasing home purchase prices make
renting the best value in accommodation available in Alberta today. These
market fundamentals continue to bode well for Boardwalk's future."

As this unplanned, unorganized, uncontrolled boom continues renters in Alberta suffer from housing flips and speculation. Proving once again as Proudhon said; property is theft; when landlords deny possession of property to renters.

Should the government adopt rent controls to level the playing field for the working class. Of course. Business always calls for the government to regulate in order to avoid a monopoly and to 'level the playing field', so why should rent controls be any different. They allow the government to cool down an overheated market that is exploiting an artificial lack of rental properties to gouge and screw renters.

Rent controls would be a solution, condo's and housing flipping are the problem.

A h/t to Werner Patels.

See:

Housing

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