When Your Landlord Is a Billion-Dollar Corporation

Maarten van den Heuvel/Pexels

“In Canada, to buy a home, it’s a dream, and to rent is a nightmare.” Housing is a human right, but the rental market reveals a different reality. In my first piece for The Walrus, I examine how financialized landlords are turning Canada's rental housing into a tool for profit.

Imagine seeing your rent rise from $1475 to $2450 in a couple of years. Skipping meals to pay rent. Retired, but forced to work. Trying to downsize into something more affordable with no luck. Owing back rent. Being evicted. These are the hurdles facing many struggling Canadians.

REITs, asset management firms, and others are spending billions buying up cheap housing in lower-income neighbourhoods, changing the rental market, and reshaping Canada's cities.

"What’s being lost is the vibrancy ... a history and culture that make communities special,” says Nemoy Lewis, an assistant professor at the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University.

A National Housing Council report likening access to adequate housing to access to health care—both critical determinants of overall well-being.

“Housing is a human right in Canada, and governments have to have regulations in place to ensure those rights are respected,” says Marie-Josee Houle, Canada’s federal housing advocate.

This story revisits a topic I very briefly covered nearly two decades ago as a business reporter at Reuters. It's been fascinating to see how dramatically the landscape has changed in the intervening years and the impact of these policies decades later.

Read the full story here.