Mortgage Broker

Summer 2018

Mortgage Broker is the magazine of the Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association and showcases the multi-billion dollar mortgage-broking industry to all levels of government, associated organizations and other interested individuals.

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rentalhousing premises readily exceeds coverage provided by the tenant's damage deposit. Financial harm may also result when tenants fall into rent arrears, with unpaid rents and legal costs sometimes accumulating into the tens of thousands of dollars. Rent controls are at best reactionary and provide a disincentive for homeowners to rent their home or suite. Limiting cost recovery in an inflationary environment will be viewed by many as simply not be worth the risk. Price controls are not imposed on other private sectors – so why then impose price controls on homeowners who are simply trying to make ends meet in the midst of a housing affordability crisis? As we all know, the solution to creating affordable rental housing is to create more housing, which should consist of both market housing and government-built housing for vulnerable sectors, such as low-income households. While supply is the answer, there needs to be an awareness that there is currently a construction trade shortage in B.C. Any government focus on building social housing will strain the already limited supply of skilled construction trades and drive construction costs even higher, making it near impossible for the private development sector to churn out much needed rental housing. COMPREhEnSIvE hOuSIng PLAn By ALL LEvELS Of gOvERnMEnT ere is a skyrocketing demand for rental housing, with few incentives for the private sector to provide it. To fix this problem, the federal, B.C. and local governments must come together to develop a comprehensive housing plan. We recommend that: n LocaL governments . provide an efficient, fast planning and approval process for all housing development, but especially rental housing development; municipalities should be empowered to fast-track to development of any Crown or provincial lands in their municipalities for rental purposes. n the federaL government . amend mortgage underwriting guidelines (B-20) to support the financing of rental housing by individual investors; . create incentives, such as federal income tax incentives, or fund job skills programs for the much needed construction trades to build rental housing in B.C.; . taper immigration to allow housing supply, especially in large urban centres such as Metro Vancouver and the Capital Regional District to catch up to demand. n the B.c. government . remove rent controls contained in the RTA, or at least, raise the rent increase caps to enable landlords to capture actual increases in the cost of providing housing; . collaborate with the private sector to ensure the pace of development doesn't strain labour or material resources and fuel increased housing costs it's trying to prevent. CMB MAGAZINE cmba-achc.ca summer 2018 | 15

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