Rent control in Ontario: The facts, the flaws, the fixes SEPTEMBER 2024 RENT CONTROL IN ONTARIO The facts, the flaws, the fixes Ricardo Tranjan and Paulina Vargatoth Rent control in Ontario The facts, the flaws, the fixes Introduction 3 1. [...] In the early 1940s, the Canadian government prohibited landlords from 6 / Rent control in Ontario: The facts, the flaws, the fixes raising rents. [...] The most likely explanation is that new unit exemptions lead to an increase in the number of uncontrolled units in the rental price index, which would cause the average rental price in the index to increase since these units are not subject to rent controls.”12 In other words, the more new units are exempted, the higher the rents. [...] The following year, the rent increase guideline is 2.5 per cent; it applies to the rent and to the AGI amount. [...] The opinions in this report, and any errors, are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA or funders of the report.
Authors
- Pages
- 43
- Published in
- Canada
Table of Contents
- Introduction 3
- 1. Rent trends in Ontario 4
- 2. Key terms and context 6
- Rent freeze (old) versus rent control (new) 6
- The various pieces of rent regulation 7
- 3. A brief history of rent controls in Ontario 9
- 4. Loophole #1: Vacancy decontrol 11
- 5. Loophole #2: New unit and date-based exemptions 15
- 6. Loophole #3: Above-guideline rent increases 17
- The flawed rationale behind AGIs 18
- AGI’s flawed calculation formula 21
- A real-life example of flawed AGI calculations 23
- 7. Claims against rent control 26
- 1. Abstract economic argument: Rent controls distort markets, and that’s always bad 27
- 2. Claims based on old research: In the past, rent control made the situation worse 27
- 3. Fearmongering from the real estate industry:“Rent control kills housing supply” 28
- 8. The actual evidence 29
- National-scale analyses 29
- Provincially focused analyses 30
- Recent international studies 31
- 9. Technical and political fixes 34
- Policy solutions 34
- Political responses 36
- 10. Suggested resources 37
- Useful and recent studies and analysis 38
- Notes 40
