ALL levels of government, declare a HOUSING EMERGENCY in Calgary! And across Canada too!

Petition updateRequire landlords to appear at House of Commons Review of Financialization & Rent GougingALL levels of government, declare a HOUSING EMERGENCY in Calgary! And across Canada too!

Anne LandryCalgary, Canada

Sep 17, 2023

BELOW is the text of my speech before The City of Calgary Council Community Development Committee regarding its NEW Housing Strategy as I provided on Friday September 15, 2023 – I was in Panel #29 and spoke #5 in the second Panel after the lunch break. Please check the text BELOW with the recording of the speech delivery, as portions may not have been read due to the 5 minute time limit. [VIDEO LINK, starts at ~17:07.] See also my Presentation Slide that was projected on the overhead at the time of my speech. On Saturday September 16, 2023 The City of Calgary Council approved The City of Calgary’s Housing Strategy – see MORE in NOTE1.

Thank you for signing my CHANGE.ORG petition: Require landlords to appear at House of Commons Review of Financialization & Rent Gouging!

*********************************************************************************

Thank you Mayor Gondek and Council for this opportunity to speak regarding the City of Calgary’s NEW Housing Strategy (NOTE2) . My name is Anne Landry. For the past 25+ years I have rented the same 1 Bedroom & Den apartment in the Beltline in Ward 8 - an apartment operated by Boardwalk REIT – one of the largest financialized landlords in Canada. I am again being rent gouged by Boardwalk REIT - $185/month (17.4%) increase in two instalments at a time that the Alberta Residential Tenancies Act allows landlords to increase rents only once in a year.

I have a disability - post traumatic stress. I will soon be of retirement age. I have a career background that includes strategic planning, data analytics, project management and continuous improvement. I have not worked in my career since the 2015 recession. I have provided Boardwalk over $300,000 in rent over 25+ years and I would like to age in place in peace and dignity in my apartment and my community in which I have long lived.

As per the Slide on the overhead, I am a Calgarian for HOUSING is a HUMAN RIGHT and earlier this week led the HOUSING HOPE Community Meeting in Calgary with other HUMAN RIGHTS/HOUSING HUMAN RIGHTS Advocates: John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights; Voice of Albertans with Disabilities; the National Pensioners Federation; #BeTheChangeYYC; and the Calgary Raging Grannies with their compelling housing songs. See also the BLOG regarding the HOUSING HOPE Community Meeting in Calgary at the WEBSITE of the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights.

I have provided a BRIEF entitled STOP THE HARM. STOP Predatory Financialization of Housing and RENT GOUGING – HOUSING is a HUMAN RIGHT! to the House of Commons HUMA Committee Review regarding financialization & rent gouging – including involving harassment of me to the point of threats to terminate my lease that I have requested Sam Kolias Boardwalk REIT CEO and Chairman of the Board to address at the HUMA Committee Review regarding financialization, rent gouging, renovictions and related issues. Financialization is using housing as a for profit investment/commodity – and not as a social good, a basic human right.

As well, I have provided a BRIEF to the National Housing Council Review regarding financialization of primary rental markets – entitled: It is the WILD, WILD WEST in ALBERTA. Calgary is apparently a GROUND ZERO for HOUSING HUMAN RIGHTS violations for which submissions can be made to the Federal Housing Advocate.

In part, my recommendations include declare a HOUSING EMERGENCY in Calgary and across CANADA and to implement a NATIONAL RENT FREEZE, EVICTION FREEZE - and LOWER RENTS in cases of rent gouging.

See my CHANGE.ORG petition entitled: Require landlords to appear before the House of Commons Review of Financialization & Rent Gouging. This echoes the request of the Federal Housing Advocate before the House of Commons HUMA Committee Review regarding financialization, rent-gouging, renovictions and related issues on May 9, 2023.

In signing up to speak before Council I checked the box on the online form saying I don’t support the NEW strategy – I strongly support HOUSING is a HUMAN RIGHT – affordable, adequate, accessible housing, secure tenure housing but there are key gaps in The City of Calgary’s Housing Strategy that URGENTLY need to be addressed at the time of Calgary’s growing HOUSING EMERGENCY - including to move to a multipronged strategy such as was recommended by Marie Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate at - House of Commons HUMA* Committee Review of Financialization, Rent Gouging, Renovictions & Related Issues – May 16, 2023. She stated:

”I think it’s a multipronged approach. Stop the loss, curb the financialization, make it less profitable and give opportunities for non-market actors to acquire.”

I recommend The City of Calgary Council make the following FIVE broad amendments to the Housing Strategy:

#1 ALL levels of government declare an IMMEDIATE HOUSING EMERGENCY in Calgary and take IMMEDIATE steps this week to protect renters, the vulnerable and as well as the supply of affordable, accessible, adequate, secure tenure housing and LAND. We need help NOW! (See my Presentation Slide that was on the overhead during my presentation before The City of Calgary Council Community Development Committee on Friday September 15, 2023.)

Rent Caps are the RIGHT thing to do as a key element of a multipronged strategy:

LEGALLY from a Housing Human Rights perspective. (NOTE3a, NOTE3b)
MORALLY - in MY CALGARY we don’t kneel on the neck of people either physically or economically. “As part of the 1975 anti-inflation wage and price controls, provinces were requested to implement rent control, limiting rent increases – all agreed to do so.” (Steve Pomeroy, BRIEF to HUMA Committee – June 9, 2023). In 2018, Cenovus urged the Alberta Government to impose production cuts to boost prices amid ‘economic crisis’ - and this occurred.
TIME – EFFECTIVE: you can’t build ~50,000+ affordable homes needed in Calgary TODAY to address the affordable housing deficit of households in CORE HOUSING need as per the HART Needs Assessment Tool (Calgary, Census Division, Census 2021). But you can STOP the LOSS TODAY with policy.
COST – EFFECTIVE: can’t build for the same LOW costs as rental units built decades ago. See Boardwalk REIT Q2 2023 Conference Call August 11, 2023 Presentation, including Slide 7 at https://www.bwalk.com/media/35515/q2-2023-conference-call-final.pdf

Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate now speaks of Canada’s housing emergency and has recommended enduring rental controls and tenant protections (NOTE4).

Tim Richter, CEO of Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness has said at the HUMA Review on Tuesday June 6, 2023 that: “Canada, right now, is under a wave of new homelessness on the same scale as Canada’s largest natural disasters. People are being pushed out of their housing by huge increases in cost of rent…” [Emphasis added]

#2 Move IMMEDIATELY to a HOUSING HUMAN RIGHT model with an independent expert Commissioner and accountability reporting to Council including with quarterly reviews, public dashboard tracking and an external expert consultant to lead a human rights needs assessment with wide public engagement. (NOTE5)

It’s time to make THE SHIFT to HOUSING is a HUMAN RIGHT, in HUMAN RIGHTS CITIES (Maytree), with Accountability by Design and Radical Inclusion (Universal Design) by Design.

HOUSING is a HUMAN RIGHT is the LAW (NOTE6 ) – not a slogan, as Marie Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate mentioned before the House of Commons HUMA Committee Review regarding financialization on May 9, 2023. The City of Calgary’s NEW Housing Strategy (NOTE2) lacks the comprehensiveness of planning and accountability that is evident in the Vancouver PROGRESS REPORT DASHBOARD 2022 ANNUAL UPDATE – January to December 2022.

HOUSING HUMAN RIGHTS responsibilities of ALL governments include: have independent oversight; meaningfully engage with rights holders; use the maximum resources in the shortest possible time and prioritize the most vulnerable. (NOTE7)

Use the standard CMHC definition of affordable housing in Canada.

The City of Calgary routinely does NOT refer to the fact that over 126,000 households (22%) in Calgary CMA cannot afford shelter (Census 2021 – NOTE8) – that’s 42% of households earning under $99,999 or LESS.

There is no province in Canada where workers can afford an apartment at minimum wage.

Use the HART Housing Needs Assessment Tool - the emerging standard in Canada - for build targets for the most vulnerable and to identify priority populations.

Implement landlord licensing with ESG tracking fines and fees. (NOTE9)

#3. STOP the LOSS of affordable housing including due to financialization of housing – research by expert Steve Pomeroy reveals that 15 are lost for every 1 affordable housing built. (NOTE10)

#4. Curtail predatory financialization of housing – research by Canadian expert Martine August reveals that financialization of housing is a failed affordable housing model and that it is harms-based. Financialization of housing was created by policy in the 1990s at the time the federal government let the “market” take over and provinces stepped out of rent control. (NOTE11) Policy helped create financialization of housing and your policy can end it - NOW.

#5. Foster non-market housing in alignment with national programs such as The National Housing Accord: A Multi-Sector Approach to Ending Canada’s Rental Housing Crisis – announced August 15, 2023 by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, PLACE Centre Smart Prosperity Institute, and REALPAC – with ENDORSEMENTS. Ensure rental protections are included.

Thank you.

Anne Landry

Calgary, Alberta

**********************************************************************************

NOTES:

NOTE1: See MINUTES of The City of Calgary Council Community Development Committee Meetings on September 14, 15, 16 – including regarding AMMENDMENTS.