Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 24, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a19 Winniw Rhi ii find any 2001 developers need More incentive ending rent controls not the answer intercity revitalization requires Community investment recent free press editorials and testimonials from land lords have suggested that removing rent controls is a key to revitalizing Winnipeg inner there is very Little evidence to sup port this rent controls did not cause the decay of Winnipeg inner and removing them will not solve the it is True that the annual rent increases permitted by the Provin Cial govern ment have not kept up with to the extent that this is a it is easily fixed increases could be capped at a higher level than they Are to suggest that All we can do is throw up our hands and allow uncontrolled increases Little More than a Blank Cheque for land lords is landlords already have ways of dealing with increased they can apply for special rent and Many have already done just that to cover this Winters High heat ing landlords can also apply for a five year exemption from the guidelines if they upgrade their Winnipeg housing problem is due far More to the Federal governments abandonment of social combined with changes to the Federal tax and other factors such As a stagnant intercity As it is to rent bucking a trend much is made of the fact that Manitoba is bucking a trend by maintain ing rent theres More to Good Public policy than the availability of Low Cost rental housing is an Issue across the even in those places where rent controls have been last year in Toronto Only per cent of total housing starts were for rental in it was Only per Winnipeg had More new rental starts in 1999 than and and More per capita than Ontario experience is an example of the dangers of deregulating the rental housing two years the Harris government announced it was getting out of the social housing it removed rent stopped new social housing and redirected funds directly to social assistance recipients in the form of rental ending rent controls wont Spur the building of apartments in the inner Joe Bryksa Winnipeg free press the theory was that this change would increase demand for Low Cost housing and unleash the Market to provide in that Market has remained and the Overall effects of the changes have been immediately after controls were rents went up across the and Large numbers of Low income tenants were creat ing a Small army of homeless people with rental coupons but nowhere to spend Between 1997 and the average rent for a on bedroom apartment in Toronto increased More than 21 per last year the rent for an average two bedroom apartment jumped per cent More than double the rate of Infra property managers in Manitoba have argued that Manitoba should adopt a policy similar to with the addition of increased hous ing allowances for people on social this proposal is notable because it concedes that lifting rent controls would harm Low income people the it is also notable for its crass rather than allowing unfettered rent increases and then beefing up support to help Low income people cover it would be would accomplish just As much if the province sent a subsidy Cheque directly to some landlords have also argued for a scheme in which rent controls Are maintained on a rental unit Only until it is in other the Success of this plan would depend on Lon term tenants who pay Low rent seniors on a fixed income even if we believed that there were not one unscrupulous landlord to push such tenants out of desirable apartments in order to clean up on uncontrolled the plan is far top and simply misses the main deregulating the rental housing Market will not spark the growth that is Market the argument that lifting rent controls will Lead to a surge in new development is based on a Basic Assumption that property develop ers will follow the this of a reasonable most landlords and we can safely Are not in the business to lose they will develop where it is most which is precisely Why removing rent controls will not Lead to inner City renewal because the Market does not want to build the kind of housing that is needed once the experience in Ontario is housing starts there have been booming not surprising Given the booming econ yet the Boom has been focused mostly on condos where much of the profit is upfront and High end which Are in general More rather than removing rent con the province should work with the City and the Federal government to increase opportunities for Public investment into Coop hous and incentives for private investment that do not leave vulnerable the very people and communities who most need Community with sup port from All three Levels of govern ment and the nonprofit Are already beginning to address the Issue of housing in the Many such projects also provide training for area and thus increase communities capacity to absorb the benefits of economic you dont often hear elegant free Market economic theories in support of Small scale Community housing All they have going for then is slowly but they fit flip the free press Wel cities letters from they must include the authors address and Telephone w maim i letters May be letters to the 1355 Mountain r2x fax email contribution to Alliance smells of patronage As a member and Volunteer for the Canadian i was considerably disheartened at the recent news of the contribution to the Alliance by the lawyer who defended Stockwell this act and its implications have the smell of the patronage politics that is no longer acceptable by today enlightened its what finished Brian Mulroney conservatives and should have finished Jean Chretien liberals and May if we could get our act the old timers like Preston Manning and Deb Grey must be just cringing and shaking their lets Hope their influence will eventually get things Back on George Winnipeg look to maritime for recycling ideas i agree with the mayor that we have to Start reducing the amount of garbage being put into the i think his plan is too Little and perhaps he should look to the maritime provinces for some i just moved Back to Winnipeg from Halifax where the recycling program has been in place for about five this pro Gram is provincially legislated and the whole province must follow some of the highlights of this program Are the province runs composting facilities where All comp stables Are collected from the composted and then resold to these comp stables Are separated at your residence or into Large Green bins which Are picked up at the curb this alone reduces close to 60 per cent of the trash most people throw out As it includes Tea Coffee All kinds of papers except dirty kleenex and food products fast food restaurants and food court areas must follow the same Recy cling rules As the ment the majority of trash being produced by these areas Are either comp stable or recyclable and would reduce a Large amount of trash going to the a visit to Prince Edward Island will find the garbage cans at fast food areas either you sort your trash or the staff cleans the tables and sorts it for All recyclable such As pop liquor Tetra milk containers purchased have a 10cent recycling tax added to when that Container is sold Back to a Recy Cler five cents is returned to the individual while the other five c its goes to enhancing the recycling p this is just a Quick overview of the program that has caused As much or More Public reaction Down there As but is now working very the 10cent charge on containers caused the biggest uproar because it was Only a tax perhaps it but it got the program up and running and it seems very the City and province should look at these two provinces to see How they have organized and run their reduction pro Grams and perhaps get some ideas from Arthur Matthews Winnipeg garbage Agenda financially driven Bruce Owens article did Murray make a mess of garbage 17 does a Good Job of summarizing mayor Glen Mur rays real Agenda As being financially not during the past Ive written to All Council members and the challenging them to investigate or even acknowledge alternatives to the mayors to no Council Mem Bers for the most part simply parroted the mayors motherhood statements about reducing no one acknowledged that there May be better alternatives and would try to get Council to look at the mayor was not interested in he was Only interested in trying to figure a to collect Rev Enue from garbage in other words a goodbye mayor i find it hard to believe that Council members were naive and in the dark about All heres one Way we might effectively and simply Start to address that City Council can enact a bylaw requiring retail outlets to provide waste and Recycle collection at their premises we As Consumers would then be Able to choose Between stripping excessive packaging from our Pur chases at the Point of Sale and leaving it there for the store to dispose of or take it Home and pay the City to haul it i know this can be done because i asked John who Fol Lowed up and advised that Council could pass such a the idea of garbage tags is not All that bad but Only if that fee was put in place after the City enacted the the combination of these two actions would see the City More effectively managing waste is one caveat i would like to see a clause in the fee for garbage Bill that would Block any attempts by future councils to tinker with the allowable definitions of quantities or garbage bag Billbo Kwick Winnipeg recycling plan self sufficient i read your analysis piece on the poli tics of the waste minimization pro Gram last saturday morning with you Point to four of my actions As you suggest that i did not consult with executive policy committee before releasing the Green paper in that is not in the paper was circulated and reviewed informally by pc twice before its you suggest the second mistake i made was identifying the waste minimization plan As an environmental poli not As a Way to make the plan does not make simply we Are adding new recycling programs that Cost millions of dollars and new sources of Revenue had to be part of funds could come from the Sale of recyclables for those who do and an excess waste charge for those who if the program went ahead it would be proper Tutax Council approved most of the new costs without the your suggestion that Bis Landfill had something to do with this is also the Bufi Landfill Issue is old news and we have already absorbed its financial you then suggest that i should have solicited votes for the program without the required i think that would have been a and some thing i was not prepared to your fourth Point is that i should have claimed Victory saying really there is no financial or As you so eloquently put a smart politician is the one who comes to a Fork in the and goes both it is that kind of politician i was elected not to my political position is we must reduce greenhouse we must reduce property which Means when we Roll out expensive new programs they must be realistically designed so they Are self financing and dont require More property tax the original plan did just Glen Murray mayor doonesbury by Garry Trudeau ;