Dr. August’s research findings were spotlighted in a CBC News interview shared on September 9, 2024. For more on Dr. August’s comments, please read the original article via CBC News.
The cost of housing has become an increasing concern for many Canadians – according to data collected by Rentals.ca, rent costs have risen nation-wide by 22 per cent over a two-year period. In a recent interview with CBC News, Dr. Martine August discussed the role that “financialized” landlords have played in this phenomenon.
According to Dr. August’s research, close to 400,000 suites – nearly 20 per cent of multi-family rental units in Canada – are owned by Canada’s biggest financial firms. Dr. August argues that existing housing being purchased by financialized landlords often leads to cut costs and raised rents through evictions or AGIs (Above Guideline Increases – approved increases of rent costs beyond that allowed by provincial guidelines). Once existing tenants have been evicted or priced out by rent increases, vacancy decontrol rules allow landlords to set the rent prices as they see fit.
In her interview, Dr. August acknowledges that the Canadian government needs to greatly improve on its provision of affordable housing to address the gap in the market that is being created by financialized landlords: “To create real affordable housing, social housing, non-market housing, [they should] massively expand the stock of that.” Many financialized landlords intend on building new units to expand the housing supply, but Dr. August expresses concern that these units won’t be truly affordable or built fast enough to meet the market’s needs: “These companies are really benefiting from the fact that we haven’t had social housing construction in Canada since (…) the early ‘90s.”
School of Planning Associate Professor Dr. Martine August