海角社区官网

Some听127,907听new听condo units would also be exempt if rented out.

That translates to eight per cent of the 海角社区官网area’s听purpose-built rental stock and 25 per cent of the condo market without rent controls.

During the same period,听the average monthly rent for purpose-built apartments spiked 35 per cent in the 海角社区官网area to $1,852 in from $1,370, with condo unit rents rising 23 per cent to $2,758听from $2,235.

These prices are the average paid by all tenants, including those who signed leases years ago, and the average rental listing price, which reflects what tenants would pay if they moved to a new home, is often higher.听

The Ford government removed rent control for new units Nov. 15, 2018听鈥� just months after taking office.

They described the move as a bid to stimulate development, and 鈥済ive people more choice and bring down housing costs” while protecting existing tenants听from the removal of rent control.

While the Ford government framed the rent control exemption as a step toward housing affordability, critics say it makes life for tenants more expensive and precarious.

The date-based exemption is 鈥渁 stealthy way for governments to eliminate rent control over time,鈥� a 2024 report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) said.

Ricardo Tranjan, political economist and senior researcher with CCPA who co-wrote the report, said governments who see rent control as a 鈥減roblem鈥� tend to make date-based exemptions because doing so is easier, legally, than removing rent controls across the board.

Previously, Mike Harris’s Progressive Conservative government introduced a date-based exemption so rent control no longer applied to units built after November 1991.

It wasn’t until 2017 that Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government extended rent control to all units.

Tranjan says the exemption incentivizes developers while worsening affordability in the province.

He added that much of today鈥檚 housing debates focus 鈥� directly or indirectly听鈥� on affordability, while most government policy is focused squarely on increasing supply.

The result has been an influx of units that are new, expensive and non-rent-controlled, he said.

鈥淚f ... all you鈥檙e doing is providing incentive for private developers to add new units to the market that are priced high and not rent-controlled,” said听Tranjan, “how can you possibly (suggest) those policies are contributing to housing affordability?鈥�

That idea, he says, comes from 鈥渇iltering,鈥� the process of higher-income tenants moving into new units and leaving more affordable supply to lower-income tenants.

Tranjan said it鈥檚 based on the same “flawed logic” of trickle-down economics.

Evictions are ‘skyrocketing’

Even if filtering were effective, there would be more direct ways of improving housing affordability, Tranjan said, such as imposing rent control on all units, reinstating vacancy control (which applies rent regulations to a unit even after a tenant moves out), and building more nonmarket, non-profit housing.

Dania Majid,听a lawyer at the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), said evictions are “skyrocketing” as wages trail rent prices.

The Landlord and Tenant Board held听a record 106,000 hearings in 2024, she added.

The date-based exemption creates instability for renters, Majid explained, leaving tenants in post-2018 units with no security of tenure.

Once their lease ends, a tenant’s rent can rise by any amount and they can be “economically evicted,” and听often don’t exercise their rights for fear of reprisal, Majid said.

As rent becomes less affordable and options fewer, tenants also sacrifice necessities such as medicine or food just to pay rent听Majid said, with food banks becoming “an informal rent subsidy.”

Tranjan said there’s also a “huge debate鈥� about whether or not removing rent controls actually leads to more housing starts.

He highlighted a on rental markets, which analyzed data from 1971 to 2019 and found 鈥渘o significant evidence鈥� that starts for purpose-built rentals were lower in markets with rent control than in markets without rent control.

Significant increase in rental starts and condo starts

Still, there’s been a significant increase in rental starts and condo starts in recent years, though some say it’s not enough to meet demand.

CMHC data shows the number of rental starts in the 海角社区官网area from 2019 to 2024 was 160 per cent higher than during the six years prior, while condo starts increased 22 per cent.

Frank Clayton,听senior research fellow at 海角社区官网Metropolitan University鈥檚 Centre for Urban Research and Land Development, believes the removal of rent controls has had a positive impact on starts, but said there are many factors at play, including incentives from the federal government.

The听Apartment Construction Loan Program introduced by CMHC in 2017 made a significant impact on rental starts, contributing to more than 50,000 units nationwide, Clayton said.

Another major incentive was Ottawa’s removal of goods and services tax on purpose-built rentals in 2023, he added, and the听provincial government removing its portion of听harmonized sales tax.

Condo market in plummeting

Rising rent prices and decreasing interest rates have also led to more starts, Clayton said.

Additionally, some builders who bought land for condo development are turning to purpose-built rental apartments as an alternative because听the condo market is plummeting, he said.

The Ontario Liberals say they would “phase-in” rent control, similar to Manitoba.

The Ontario New Democrats, meanwhile, have pledged to get rid of the date-based exemption if elected, to reinstate vacancy control and to end above-guideline rent increases for rent-controlled units.