The article, recently published in the Globe and Mail, paints a picture of divergent trends in the Toronto rental market.
On the one hand, after decades of stagnation, there has been renewed interest from developers in building purpose-built rentals. However, most of the rental units that have come on stream are exorbitantly priced condo rentals which come with a host of problems: deregulated rents, shrinking unit sizes, problems related to security of tenure amongst other issues. Purpose-built rental housing has more recently targeted tenants who can afford higher rent, in the hopes that it would free up options at the lower end of the spectrum.
However, the article goes on to say that trickle down hasn’t really worked. For tenants on social assistance and facing other barriers to finding and keeping housing, the situation remains bleak with rents that have skyrocketed and searches for housing lasting weeks, if not months as Toronto’s vacancy rates continue to plummet.
For the full article, visit:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/the-renting-gap-is-toronto-in-the-midst-of-a-rental-renaissance-or-is-it-just-more-of-the-same/article23674555/