REGULATORY OCTOPUS FUELS HOUSING SHORTAGE

So, housing has been in the news a lot lately, particularly the shortage of affordable housing, as highlighted recently by the ham-handed raid on the homeless camp.

That brings me to suggest that much of the affordable housing shortage is caused by regulation. There are multiple regulatory streams: the ever more onerous landlord-tenant laws; the draconian enforcement of the relatively new National Building Code; plus some others. These together constitute what could be called a regulatory octopus.

Traditionally, the majority of lower-priced housing was provided by small-time landlords in adapted older buildings and this is where the octopus flexes its tentacles. For instance, it is likely that the regulatory pressure on an $800 or less unit is 10 times that on a unit that rents for double that at, say, $1,600. This could be more exactly calculated by counting the number of hearings, appeals, orders (in inch-high black letters), inspections and associated other demands from multiple sources.

The following episode, as reported in The Guardian awhile back, is not that unusual. It took three months for a “squatter” at a Charlottetown establishment to be moved out and in gratitude on his way out the door he flooded the place. Other horror stories abound.

It’s obvious that being the owner of cheaper rentals is not a pleasant place to be and many want out. The nimble are long gone but the process continues rapidly and is easily seen: vacant buildings, boarded up, under renovation, recently bulldozed. If anybody wants my 20-minute tour around the centre of Charlottetown, just ask. There is lots to see.

This aspect of the “affordable” housing issue is not getting any attention and it should. It's probably understandable that a government town like Charlottetown is reluctant to discuss the law of unintended consequences, but if they don’t the problem is going to get much worse. Rentals at the cheaper end of the price scale are disappearing like the dew on a hot summer morning. The answer to excessive regulation is not more regulation.

Ken Webster, Central Bedeque, P.E.I.