East York Tenants Group

 

In Beaches-East York the incumbent Liberal MP, Maria Minna, is once again heading back to Ottawa to represent us. The East York Tenants Group congratulate her.

Now to the business of getting some concrete action from our newly re-elected federal representative and the newly formed federal government.

Although our recently re-elected MP is in the opposition, tenants in Beaches-East York have certain expectations with regard to alleviating hardships faced by tenants, who by the way, comprise a huge segment of the residential households in Beaches-East York.

In the weeks preceding the election we raised a number of important tenants’ issues, not least of which is ‘affordable housing’. Two of the main factors in realizing ‘affordable housing’ are:  i) an adequate supply of rental apartment buildings and/or, ii) bringing back ‘rent controls.’  Several community groups and organizations have raised these issues time and again with politicians. The East York Tenants Group e-mailed political representatives at all levels of government and invited them to visit our blog with the hope they would acquaint themselves with tenant issues in Beaches-East York.

We received acknowledgements from most of the politicians. . .but sadly, not from all.

So what can we do now?

We can lobby our federal MP (Maria Minna) to address the issue of tax breaks for renters in the House of Commons.  As mentioned in an earlier post we need to have meaningful tax breaks to better correlate rental costs with the income of tenants. The housing policy of successive federal governments has placed far too much emphasis on the private market and the ownership sector.  This policy has been detrimental to the living standards of tenants. The system currently in place to supposedly provide ‘affordable housing’ for renters is clearly not working for tenants and will get worse as the economy continues its downward spiral. We need to lobby both federal and provincial politicians to provide truly meaningful tax breaks for tenants in line with those currently available to homeowners.

We have good reason to make an even stronger case for this income tax relief now that the 2009 Guideline Rent Increase has been raised to 1.8%. That’s right!  And this will benefit landlords. 

We do not agree with this ‘guideline increase’ even though the rationale is that it is pegged to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). We are all affected by the CPI and are currently facing the most challenging economic issues in decades so consideration must be given to initiatives that facilitate ‘affordable housing‘.

Since the province regulates ‘guideline’ increases, while building code standards, bylaws and enforcement are a municipal matter, there is a need for our different levels of government to work together to:
(a) make available sufficient housing units to ensure affordability and,
(b) ensure mandatory maintenance standards for needed repairs and building code violations are tied to the (2009) guideline increase. 

[Make sure you visit our links RESIDENTIAL TENANCIES ACT  and CMHC (Repair issues and tenant complaints)  for information on how to deal with violations and resolve complaints.]

The question remains: Why the unfair treatment of tenants versus homeowners?

Why is there no similar initiative for an annual provincial tax break for Ontario tenants? A tax break for tenants should be forthcoming from the Ontario government to offset this increase to tenants. Better still, the guideline increase should be rolled back, given the current volatile economic climate.  The federal government should also put meaningful tax breaks in place to correlate the cost of housing (rent) to tenants’ income

So … how are we going to get our message across to the politicians in Ottawa and at Queen’s Park?  Let us start an email campaign.  Let us lobby all party leaders in the federal and provincial governments to support a measure granting tax breaks to tenants. Below is contact information for our Beaches-East York federal and provincial representatives as well party leaders in the federal government. Let us tell them how we feel about the imbalance in the treatment of renters versus homeowners.

• Stephen Harper, Prime Minister
  Email: pm@pm.gc.ca
• Stéphane Dion, Federal Liberal Leader
  Email: DionS@parl.gc.ca
• Jack Layton, Federal Leader NDP
  Email: layton.j@parl.gc.ca
• Maria Minna, MP
  (Beaches-East York)
  Email: minnam@parl.gc.ca
• Dalton McGuinty, Premier
  Email: Dalton_McGuinty
• John Tory, PC Leader
  c/o Bob Runciman, Leader of the Opposition
  Bob_Runciman@ontla.ola.org
• Howard Hampton, NDP Leader
  douellette@on.ndp.ca
• Michael Prue, MPP
  (Beaches-East York)
  Email: mprue-co@ndp.on.ca
• David Miller, Mayor City of Toronto
  Email: mayor_miller@toronto.ca

Here is a sample of what you could say in your e-mail:

Dear . . . . .

 

As a tenant, I cannot help but notice that tax breaks and incentives are regularly given to the owners of rental buildings while tenants get slapped with rent increases every year.  This continues despite the fact various building codes and bylaws are violated in many rental buildings. I think that, given the harsh economic times (which most financial advisors predict will last several years) and the fact the Ontario 2009 RENT INCREASE GUIDELINE has approved a 1.8% rent increase, it is high time Federal and Provincial governments put into place tax breaks that effectively gear cost of rental housing to income. “Affordable housing” only benefits those who are fortunate enough to have a decent and steady income. However, those of us who live on a fixed income or make marginal salaries cannot stay afloat with the constant rent increases. I urge you to give more consideration to the plight of tenants as we make up quite a large percentage of the electorate here in Ontario.  Federal and provincial tax breaks should be granted to tenants.  Tenants need to be treated fairly too!!!

 

Yours truly,

---

ELECTION 2008 ! [Originally posted September 12, 2008]

Although all levels of governments participate in Canada’s housing policy, most of the responsibility for  implementing housing programs has been delegated to the provincial and local governments. There is an imbalance in the federal government policy as it focuses more on the private market and the ownership sector and less on the rental market.  This imbalance is discussed in detail in a research bulletin titled Canada’s Dual Housing Policy – Assisting Owners, Neglecting Renters that was published September 2007 by the Centre for Urban and Community Studies.  This document can be accessed at this link:

http://www.urbancentre.utoronto.ca/pdfs/researchbulletins/CUCSRB38Hulchanski.pdf

Here are some additional links addressing the ‘affordable housing’ issue:

Federal Government Housing Policy . . . .
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0003865

Bill C-416 (the Housing Bill of Rights) . . . . http://action.web.ca/home/housing/alerts.shtml?sh_itm=e28bcf2cbb87458118fcca4e326beb5c&AA_EX_Session=3d38b6be7f0411a9b530c957a62d34d7

Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations . . .
http://www.cfaa-fcapi.org/pdf/Policy_statement_Housing_0810.pdf

The Candidates running for office in Beaches-East York are:

Incumbent:
Maria Minna (Liberal)
http://www.mariaminna.com/

Challengers:
Marilyn Churley (NDP)
http://www.marilynchurleyndp.ca/

Zoran Markovski (Green Party)
http://www.greenbeaches.ca

Caroline Alleslev (Conservative Party)
http://www.alleslev.ca/

(The names and contact information of other candidates running in the riding will be published as soon as they become available).

More on the candidates running in Beaches-East York . . . .
http://www.insidetoronto.ca/article/55771

Don’t hesitate to raise the issue of ‘affordable housing’ as well as any other housing issues of concern to you with all candidates campaigning in the Beaches-East York riding.

The Voting process and eligibility requirements:

This web site link below provides comprehensive information on the voting process in the 2008 Federal Election and also eligibility requirements:

http://www.mapleleafweb.com/features/voting-2008-federal-election-canada

You may also find it helpful to visit the Elections Canada website below for answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the voting process:

http://www.elections.ca/intro.asp?section=faq&document=index&lang=e

The East York Tenants Group maintains a position that is pro-tenant and pro-fair housing and remains a non-partisan organization. We encourage you to exercise your right to vote for the candidate of your choice.