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<\/p>\nIn a keynote speech delivered at the National Mortgage Conference in Montreal this week, Benjamin Tal warned that instituting rent control could spell disaster.<\/p>\n
Speaking specifically about Ontario\u2019s Fair Housing Plan, introduced in April 2017, Tal says it triggered rent control inflation.<\/p>\n
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\u201cTo understand the condo market, we must understand the rental market,\u201d said Tal, the deputy chief economist of CIBC World Markets. \u201cThe government of Ontario with the Fair Housing Plan<\/a> decided to introduce rent control. I think it\u2019s a bad idea because we need to develop a rental mentality; we don\u2019t need to maximize homeownership<\/a>. Renting should be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n According to a report released last year by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis, 70% of Ontarians are living in homes with either too much or too little space, and that has had a deleterious impact on the shelter consumption affordability ratio. Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that Tal is advocating for fewer homeowners, however, the implementation of rent control may stymie any progress on that front.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should reach a situation in which you are 35 years old with two kids, and if you\u2019re renting nothing is wrong with you. We need to see more purpose-built rentals, just to provide more manoeuvering. The government introduced rent control, which I think is a very bad idea.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a Swedish economist who said \u2018Rent control is the best way to destroy a city, maybe besides bombing it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n