March HDAA Trade Show & VIP reception on March 30 – This annual event brought in the crowds once again. The HDAA suppliers showcased their products and enjoyed some one on one time with local landlords and owners.
short-term impact of unexpected rent increases, then the knee jerk reaction would be to bring in rent control. If you instead take a long-term view of the industry (the way many companies view their investments), then you will see that rents in new buildings today are not enough to cover costs and the risks involved in development projects. The expenditures outweigh the income for many years during and after construction. The implementation of the exemption was an important driver for the development of new, badly needed, purpose-built rental housing. Hamilton was expecting to see several new buildings over the next few years, but that is now at risk. We feel the recent announcement will stop the construction of thousands of units over the next few decades. Today's new housing may be expensive but it will be the affordable housing 30 to 50 years down the road. We will be voicing our concerns on many more items in the Fair Housing Plan that affects landlords. Items like the proposed changes to the above-guideline increases and the development of a standard lease agreement will be addressed.
April
Spring Hope Food Drive on April 19 – We had an extremely successful food drive this year – double the number of buildings participated and collection of over 13,000 lb of food in the Hamilton, Burlington and Oakville areas!
The Fair Housing Plan – Are you surprised? The Ontario Government has announced their Fair Housing Plan. Parts of this announcement leave landlords surprised and unable to comprehend how it will change the rental housing industry for the better. There are many issues in the Fair Housing Plan for landlords to be concerned about. We plan on covering them all at a later date; for now, the most important is the 1991 rent control exemption. The government has expanded rent control to ALL private rental units in Ontario, including those built after 1991 effective April 20, 2017. This ensures increases in rents will only rise at the rate posted in the annual provincial rent increase guideline. Under these changes, landlords would still be able to apply vacancy decontrol and seek above-guideline increases where permitted. The post-1991 rent control exemption that the government has removed was working. Removing rent control on all new buildings spurred more rental developments; new construction in Ontario is the result. Economists agree that rent control is not beneficial to tenants in the long run. If you are looking only at the
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Night at the Races on April 27 – It was another wonderful, relaxed Night at the Races. This annual event is fun and an excellent way for suppliers to have a casual night with local landlords. We all got a photo with the winning horse and most of us left with money still in our pockets.