I've been reading all the hype about the Licencing Fee for landlords (aka Tenant Tax if you are the landlord in question) and I have to say that it has been amusing, so I felt it was time I spoke out about the subject.
The landlords of smaller properties cite themselves as helping the poorer tenant.
MOST of the houses that are offered for rent, are NOT low cost. You only have to pick up the paper, or read Kijiji to know that. They are deliberately geared towards renting to students. They are on a PER ROOM basis. We all know that per room is big dollars for landlords, and nothing for low-income families.
Case in point: 2 years ago I needed a new place to live, and my first thought was to try to stay in a house. I searched everywhere and found places that had 3 and 4 bedrooms ( a must I suppose even if I did have 3 boys) and they were all 400 or more per ROOM.
Do the math...I'd need all the rooms so that is 1200-1600 a month, for a single income family of 5. Don't forget the utilities that some wanted to add to it as well. That will definitely put things up higher.
So after we use one WHOLE paycheck to pay the rent, the other one will pay the utilities and leave us with maybe a hundred or three to buy food. So we don't need clothes, and we don't need shoes?
I have been a renter for all of my adult life, and I will say that I have sat and watched as rents have skyrocketed in London. The poor get left with renting in broken down apartment buildings while the wealthier and more elite get shining new buildings that for a two bedroom can go upwards of 1200 a month sometimes plus utilities.
Those few who do charge less....are usually around the $800-900 mark. For someone with a single income, or someone living off of EI or Ontario Works or ODSP.....it is much too HIGH.
In the poor buildings, things are often old and in need of repair either because of neglect, or abuse or just plain age.
I suffer with year-round allergies and asthma problems because of the building where I live having had many problems with their water pipes. The damage behind the walls I'm sure is quite extensive. The landlord isn't about to rip out my walls to find out though...is he? He will simply put a bandaid on the problem and wait until it gets worse. Done so that the landlord can make sure his shareholders continue to make their profits.
I have been unwell since I got to my current place but with no money to afford to move I am trapped here....like most of the tenants who are poor living in London. We get trapped in these buildings, held hostage to the skyrocketed rents.
We could live in a fancy building too....except that our income isn't nearly high enough. Of course it doesn't help that they make sure to inform you that you are not wanted by simply making the rents too high for the low income scum to afford (unless two families of scum live together).
You want to solve the city's housing shortage, make it so that new developments have to set aside a certain number of apartments for those who are living with a lower income. It isn't a bad idea to mix the haves and have nots together......it can in fact create the very communties we are looking for.
I'm so tired of seeing the poor boxed off into buildings where we are all the same. Projects created "just for the poor".
So that the neighbors either go NIMBY(not in my backyard), OR they do the next best thing...."see that bulding.....that's where the poor people live". But then I guess I can understand that....after all it is much easier to put all of us poor people in one place in any given section of town. That way when trouble starts we know where to point the fingers.
I feel sorry for those who live in the houses that are now going to get Licenced. They are going to be deliberately slapped with the cost for this licence. The only thing these landlords didn't say was....will each unit get a 25.00 increase or will it be divided among the tenants in the bulding? After all we "can't" have those poor widdle landlords paying 25 dollars out of their profits now can we?
They complain about the amount of damage done to their property. If the people in question are students....then perhaps in an area where you own a whole bunch of houses side by side, you could rent to someone like me, who will keep a closer watch on your properties, and put and end to the drunken and disorderly displays.;
It might also help if the landlords make sure they get a valid address of where the student's parents live, and have the parent sign as a guarantor. Most landlords won't rent to poor people with no credit rating or damaged ratings thanks to having to go bankrupt after a job loss, yet they rent to kids with no history at all. Oh....and CALL THEIR PARENTS whose names you'd now have on file....and let them know their kids are living with party animals, or are the chief animal.
Whatever you landlords choose to do....DON'T insult my intelligence and the intelligence of every poor person, by saying that you were fighting this Fee because you care about us.
1. You are not in this to be a good citizen...you are in it for the money. I heard that myself at the last public meeting.
2. You INTEND to pass the Fee along....oh ya that is showing how much you care. I see that, how silly of me to misinterpret it.
3. Your places are NOT usually PRICED to attract us. They are priced to attract that lucrative market known as STUDENTS.
