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Rent Control Act - Why It Should Not Be Repealed

        In a just society, the ruling authority must decide what is
right when allocating wealth to its individual citizens. The same
ruling authority does this by intervening with the inner workings of a
marketplace to uphold its fundamental values and ideals. The aim of
government intervention is to create a just society that will reflect
the peoples values. Governing bodies do this by establishing laws
that enforce fairness or equity. The Ontario government passed the
Rent Control Act in 1975. The law levels the playing field between
landlords and tenants. New units are exempt from controls for their
first five years after which the controls are put into place. The
controls put a ceiling on annual rent increases. Under current law, a
landlord may only increase a tenants rent by 2% plus inflation.1 As
with all other markets, the housing market is based on supply and
demand. If the nature of the market were allowed to take its course,
then the price of housing would become unaffordable for most citizens.
An unfair situation would be created where power and money would be
disproportionately appropriated to land owners. Rent control laws were
established by previous governments to protect society and its people
from inflated and uncontrollable housing costs. The Harris government
now wants to repeal these laws. On June 25 the Minister of Housing,
Al Leach, released a policy paper outlining the changes that are to be
made to Ontarios rent laws. Conservative legislators plan to pass the
proposed Tenant Protection Act in the fall. The omnibus legislation
will rescind the Rent Control Act, the Landlord and Tenant Act, the
Rental Housing Protection Act, Residents Rights Act, the Land Lease
Statute Amendment Act, the Vital Services Act.2 The most objectionable
change allows the act to lift controls off vacant units. The 3.2
million renters in Ontario are very concerned about the changes.3 The
housing ministry...