As the federal government proposes new protection measures for renters in Canada, one expert in Vancouver says the ideas are good but still need some fleshing out.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the upcoming budget will propose the creation of new protections for renters, as well as new pathways toward homeownership. These include $15 million for the Tenant Protection Fund, credit for on-time rental payments, and a Canadian Renters’ Bill of Rights.
Tom Davidoff, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, says the announcement was promising, but it’s too early to say exactly how it’ll play out.
He says Ottawa’s proposal to make it possible for landlords to track whether rental payments are made in a timely fashion could be helpful for both sides and help people get into homeownership.
“Obviously, getting the details of implementation is important, but I think that would be useful to allow people to improve their credit scores with a good rental history,” he said.
Davidoff says he thinks it would give renters a good incentive to make their payments on time and it would help landlords be less fearful of tenants who don’t pay rent.
But he says he’s not sure the government needs to step in to coordinate the correlation between rental payments and credit scores.
“If it’s a good idea, the market should make it happen anyways,” he added.
In terms of the Tenant Protection Fund, Davidoff says it’s a nice gesture packaged with a fairly small amount of money, and he doesn’t see any harm in implementing it.
Meanwhile, when it comes to the Canadian Renters’ Bill of Rights, Davidoff says it could bring about some substantial change for renters in this country, depending on how it’s rolled out.
“The devil’s in the details. This could be vacancy control, it could be really strict rent control, it really does matter how this is designed,” he said.
“You certainly want to make sure renters are treated fairly.”
For renters paying attention to the upcoming budget, Davidoff says it’s worth keeping an eye out for the proposed supports.
“It’s important that the government protect and help renters in this economy,” he said. “There’s a lot of people who won’t ever be homeowners and they need financial support.”
Davidoff says he hopes the government will further its supports for renters in the future by offering tangible financial measures as the country’s housing market continues to run on short supply.
“The government could consider actual financial support for renters. There’s considerable financial support for owners in a variety of ways in Canada and there’s support for landlords financially.”
source : CityNews photo:CBC
