HOUSING

      Aside from the taxes and government regulations (about 360,000 in Ontario) that all businessmen have to contend with there are unique obstructions to all developers.
      It takes years for a developer to even get permission to build anything. Developers are forced to build three bedroom condos if Toronto city council thinks we need three bedroom condos. Toronto council runs an extortion racket – they often force developers to build a park or a library or some such thing or they won’t get a permit. Developers plan for a sixty story building only to be told they can build only to the height of forty five stories.
     The solution of course is for Ontario to get rid of building permits and let anyone build anything they want anywhere they want. (The first right of refusal would still apply – a stinking tannery would not be allowed to build up-wind from a residential district.) In an unrestricted free market, the cost of housing would crash – even the poor would be able to find affordable housing.
      Landlord Licensing: A Toronto city council initiative. The stated purpose of this initiative is “to hold landlords accountable for keeping their multi-residential buildings in good repair, to see that Toronto tenants have safe, clean and healthy homes that have adequate heat, functioning appliances, and are free of bed bugs. In short, the basics for a good quality of life.” Toronto city councilors do not understand (or maybe they do but won’t give up on their lust for power) that in a totally free market the supply of housing would soon exceed demand and it’s the tenant that would be in the driver’s seat. Landlords would be falling all over each other to provide tenants with good, well-maintained, affordable housing.
      The city councilors, however, have their own solution – government subsidized housing. The city of Toronto is the largest and the worst landlord in the city. They are billions of dollars behind in “keeping their buildings in good repair to see that Toronto tenants have safe, clean and healthy homes that have adequate heat, functioning appliances, and free of bed bugs.”
     The audacity of Toronto city council is mind boggling – they think they have the right to license landlords while their only solution is to put people in crime infested hell holes.