“But we also think that the responsibility for the safety of [low-income people] — and let’s face it, it’s low-income people who have this problem — that’s a responsibility for society at large, for everyone, not just for the people who happen to own the buildings where these people make their homes.”
Yes, thats a brilliant deduction. I rent safe, comfortable and most importantly AFFORDABLE suites to people like: university students, single moms, people who are just separating from their spouse, couples who just met, disabled veterans, people on a temporary work assignment, people who move every couple of years, people who dont know where they want to buy a house yet, people who would rather invest than buy a house… and NONE of them want to buy a house. But Im a ‘garbage’ person for giving them a good place to live. Ok then, good deduction there Sherlock.
neat.
sell them instead so people own and are not beholden to your “affordable” market values. I guarantee not NONE want to buy. The market is too expensive.
So my rental basement suite, I rent out for 1200 in a major Canadian city. The house is worth 650,000. A mortgage on that house at todays interest rates would be 3650. Insurance is another 150. Property taxes are 300. So monthly fixed costs of ownership are 4100. But there’s always something to fix so add on a very modest 300 a month for that and 4400 is a reasonably moderate estimate.
SO explain to me how the person who now pays 1200 a month is going to come up with more than THREE times their rent per month to buy a house? And theres no way that house is dropping so far down in value that 1200 is anywhere close to being able to buy it, even if it lost HALF its value. Give me your solution to how that would work.
Mom and pop landlords provide the cheapest rentals on the market. Our investment in rental housing is absolutely necessary in providing a place for those on the lowest budgets.
ahh ok. my fault - you rent rooms. I was speaking to the rental of houses. you could sell the suites however. individually. condos are a thing.
No, I rent houses. That basement suite is the lower suite, the upper suite is a separate unit. My point is that they are far too big an investment for renters to actually be able to buy and many of my renters dont WANT to buy. Some do and several have done so but thats the minority.
And condos are a very bad investment. Condo fees and insurance, plus emergency repairs on them make them highly expensive. Would never touch one.
who said a thing abt investment. this is housing
Well, no matter whether you intend it to be or not, every purchase of real estate is an investment.
how so?
Anything you put thousands of dollars of your own money into is an investment - collector cars, crypto, artwork, gold, your Star Wars collection, and housing. Whether those are a GOOD investment or not is another question, but its definitely an investment.