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房产太火爆、租房太难：租客开始“狗咬狗”
小编摘抄别人的文章翻译过来但有意删去了原文的大部分重要情节：
https://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/7248195-york-region-rental-market-is-dog-eat-dog-car-accident-victim-finds/
Graziano, who continues to play in a pub band a couple of times a month, still faces multiple surgeries.
“It took my whole life away from me,” said the Canada Post letter carrier, who hasn’t returned to work.
He receives monthly federal government disability benefits of $1,174 while 56-year-old Terri, a social service worker who has chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, also receives a monthly federal government disability cheque for $570.
They have also received a lump sum disability payment last May from Graziano’s work benefits, although the monthly payments were terminated in September 2015, as well as an advance from his lawyer in anticipation of a lawsuit.
Although they are able to pay their current rent of $1,510 plus utilities, choosy landlords in this market would rather rent to an employed tenant with a paycheque, the Grazianos said.
“(The search) was horrible since the beginning of February because it didn’t matter how much money we had in the bank, people couldn’t trust that we were able to pay the rent,” Terri said.
“They saw (the disability benefits) as too much of a risk. About 15 times, we were turned down, sometimes before we even got to the place, because we shared what our situation was. You can’t go in there lying. Nowadays, they want a credit check, they want to see your bank statements, they want pay stubs, they want references.”
The couple offered one landlord three months’ rent in addition to first and last months’ rent but were still turned down, in one case to tenants who paid a year’s rent in advance.
“That’s how bad it is,” Graziano said, adding they searched for an apartment in Aurora, Newmarket, Keswick and Bradford before finding one in Aurora.
“It’s really dog eat dog.”
There was no point in looking in the south part of the region because rents are too expensive, he said.
Lee Webb, a lawyer specializing in housing issues at the Richmond Hill-based Community Legal Clinic of York Region, which provides legal information and advice on rental housing and other issues, said the housing crunch is difficult not only on low-income earners but middle-income residents as well.
“There is a rental housing crisis in York Region and this is driven both by a lack of tenancies or lack of rental apartments and also by the high cost of housing,” he said.
Although there are rent controls on units built before 1991 under the provincial Residential Tenancies Act, landlords can hike rents on apartments that came on the market after that.
Former premier Mike Harris brought in the policy in 1996 in an attempt to encourage developers to build rental housing stock, although critics complain the endeavour has failed.
Meanwhile, there are 13,000 households on the waiting list for subsidized housing in York Region, with a wait time of between 11 and 17 years depending on the type of unit required and turnover, Heather Tillock, the region’s manager of community partnerships and support services, said.
Earlier this month, the Liberals and Conservatives shot down an NDP private member’s bill to close the rent control loophole.
Housing Minister Chris Ballard, who is MPP for Newmarket-Aurora, argued the bill didn’t go far enough and he has promised to “address unfair rises in rental costs by delivering substantive rent control reform in Ontario.”
Although critics are worried new rent controls could further limit supply, Terri said something needs to be done to address the issue.
“My heart breaks for other people because if we can’t do with a bank account with something in it, how do other people do it?” she said.
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狗仔卡
发表于 2017-4-20 20:32:44
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