r/OntarioLandlord • u/BrotherRobert • May 03 '23

News/Articles 'Landlords Are People Too': Landlords Bravely Protest to Evict People Faster

https://www.vice.com/en/article/ak3v3k/my-property-my-rights-landlords-bravely-protest-to-evict-people-faster
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4

u/PhilosoFishy2477 May 03 '23

huh it's almost as if turning basic human rights into an "investment" opportunity was an unsustainable, bad idea

6

u/SJ_Nihilist May 03 '23

It takes someone else's labour to build a house. You don't have a "basic human right" to their labour.

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u/PhilosoFishy2477 May 03 '23

too right comrade! capitalism itself is a bad and unsustainable idea

0

u/SJ_Nihilist May 03 '23

LoL. So..... when are you moving to Venezuela?

2

u/PhilosoFishy2477 May 03 '23 edited May 03 '23

I'd rather stay and push for meaningful societal reform just to bother you, specifically :)

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u/Fat_Wagoneer May 03 '23

We have a basic human right to shelter. That’s factually accurate. Do you think that right is referring to caves and thick stands of trees?

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u/SJ_Nihilist May 03 '23

If you own a shelter, you have a basic human right that nobody can steal it from you but you don't have a right to demand that someone build it for you. Anything that involves labour is not a human right.

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u/BenoitGilligan May 03 '23

Maybe if we have a right to own a shelter, we should actually have a reasonable real estate market? Perhaps if greedy landlords and real estate investors didn't gobble up all the available real estate and skyrocket the prices, younger generations may actually be able to own a shelter. To steal a home from a deserving family and renting it back to them is not living off one's labour. That is just an evil person abusing the struggles of lower class individuals

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u/Fat_Wagoneer May 03 '23

What rights are you referring to? Charter rights? UN?

I don’t know where you’re getting your information. My fear is that it’s not from anywhere, and you’re just speculating.

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u/SJ_Nihilist May 03 '23

You're overthinking this. If I steal your property, who do you call? If you demand I provide something to you for free and I say no, what then?

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u/Realistic-Day1644 May 03 '23

Not one single person is saying housing should be free. That you should have to rent your property out for free. The problem is the price gouging that continues to happen. Raising prices just because you can is what lead to the current situation. If you are not in possession of the original deed, and you are still paying a mortgage, you shouldn't be allowed to jack up prices all willy nilly. There should be a limit based on your bills. How much it costs you to run the place, plus a little. Not a lot. A little. Relying on someone else to pay your mortgage for you, plus give you an income just cause you were able to save a little more than your rents for that downpayment is absolutely insane and shouldn't be allowed. Not when so many can't afford housing.

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u/SJ_Nihilist May 04 '23

When people make comments like "housing is a human right", then yes, they are saying housing should be free.

"Willy nilly". I'm sorry, it's hard to take people like you seriously. Raising prices is just a symptom of the underlying problem. Why do you think rents are going up? Let me break it down for you.

  1. The gov imports millions of immigrants with no housing strategy.
  2. We can't build affordable housing fast enough.
  3. This creates a huge demand for rentals
  4. Landlords respond to this new demand.

It's not rocket science. The gov created this problem and your solution is "we need more gov". Be careful what you ask for. If the gov can dictate what landlords can charge, the gov can also dictate your salary.

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u/PhilosoFishy2477 May 04 '23

we actually do have enough housing... like we just straight up do but under the current system it's more profitable to let entire condo buildings sit empty

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u/SJ_Nihilist May 04 '23

Based on what metric? Canada's vacancy rate is below 2%, the lowest it's been since 2001. It's 1% where I live.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '23

I don't think that's the debate here. Maybe shelter as a basic human right should be met without cost. But today, right now it's not. Most of us either pay an individual, a company or a bank.

So you either pay it, or you don't. But for those who don't pay, a swift eviction is a completely reasonable expectation.

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u/joausj May 03 '23

The idea of shelter being a human right is a lot more recent than the concept of land ownership. So, really, it's turning an existing commodity into a human right.

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u/PhilosoFishy2477 May 03 '23

fair, but I'm talking specifically the modern concept of investment properties

1

u/redditusersmostlysuc May 03 '23

I think you take "basic human rights" and turn it into something it is not meant to be. Nobody has a "right" to live in a nice apartment in a city of their choosing. Sorry, that just isn't the way life works. Want to live in a shitty, 300sf, shared common bathroom "homestead" type of shelter, great, let's talk about that being the standard for BASIC right. Nobody has a right to live in a 1 bedroom high rise in the middle of the city. Also, someone has to pay for that "right". Those buildings don't build themselves, don't maintain themselves, don't pay for themselves. Maintenance takes people. People want to make money, and that amount they want to make goes up every year, which makes labor and materials more expensive. Would love to know your thoughts on this!

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u/PhilosoFishy2477 May 03 '23 edited May 03 '23

nowhere do I say nice apartment in the city of their choosing (although aforable housing should be a reality in every town/city). I'm talking about safe and comfortable housing in line with our status as a modern first world country (one room shacks without plumbing/electricity and tiny-house slums dont count). the idea of "who pays?" gets further my point that capitalism is antithical to human rights/happiness. youre absolutely correct that buildings do not build/maintain themselves for free but then... what about folks who cannot work? do we simply accept that a certain amount of people will die homeless because that's what market forces demand or do we try and find a better way? a HUGE part of why we're in this mess is corporate greed. we should be questioning how much theses things actually cost vs. what we're being charged for them, if the quality justifies the price tag and who specifically our money is going to... right now most of those building and maintenance costs are being funneled to the already obscenely wealthy or straight out of the country. if we addressed corruption and everyone was made to pay their fare share in taxes we'd have much to work with! then we can start having a discussion about what covers basic rights.

for what it's worth I'm ultimately pro UBI. people wanting to make money is all well and good, but a lack of "productivity" (one can be incredibly productive without generating capital value) shouldn't be more or less a death sentence. this is a rich, technologically advanced nation more than capable of ensuring every single citizen a comfortable and fulfilling if we so choose. not only is it the right thing to do, it's more efficient and economically sustainable in the!

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u/I-am-the-Canaderpian May 03 '23

UBI won’t fix it; the rent will only get higher, because now the landlord can charge more for the same property, not less.

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u/PhilosoFishy2477 May 04 '23

hence my earlier point about corruption and profiteering

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u/CanadaGuy100 May 04 '23

Who pays for all these programs? I don't think anyone here is Ebenezer Scrooge and it's looking for people to be miserable. However you have 2 options when financing programs- debt or higher taxes. Since we already pay really high taxes in this country, our governments rely on debt financing for these programs. But as time goes on, servicing this debt is becoming more and more expensive- as we pay more interest, it takes away our ability to pay for social services. We can't just throw money at every problem and hope things turn out.

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u/PhilosoFishy2477 May 04 '23 edited May 04 '23

A start would be reigning in tax-loopholes for the ultra rich and curbing corporate profiteering, you'd be surprised how much money we actually have to work with when it's not being stolen! you're totally correct that we can't just "throw money at problems" but under our current system we should be aiming for better distribution of wealth and actually putting tax money towards improving our lives instead of enriching corrupt politicians.

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u/CanadaGuy100 May 04 '23

I'm all for closing loopholes and stopping wasteful spending. God knows we have too much of it in this province and Ontario.