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All the announcements that are being made about affordable housing are useful, but there is one solution that is never mentioned.
Premier Doug Ford could do a lot to ease the housing shortage tomorrow. The solution is to properly fund and improve the landlord and tenant system. How can you encourage people to become landlords if you have turned the system into the wild, wild west? Why would someone decide to become a landlord when, if they are faced with the situation where someone is not paying rent, they may have to wait not months but years to get redress from the court?
On the other hand, tenants have no protection from the same backlogged courts from landlords who break the law. This system has to be fixed, and it can be easily. You need to appoint more judges, find suitable venues and start working on getting rid of that backlog and create a system that functions within timelines that are practical and fair.
The sort of accommodations that are made available by private landlords are usually the size that would be the right size for a lot of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Not all the people who find themselves to be homeless or at risk of becoming homeless are mentally ill or addicts; many of them are simply people who have suffered major setbacks in their lives and need assistance. Many of those people are, in fact, seniors.
Ruth Brooks
Bradford
