Quote of the Day: “The time is long overdue to count the costs of runaway rhetoric and heedless accusations – especially since most of the costs, including the high social cost of a breakdown of law and order, are paid by vulnerable people for whose benefit such rhetoric and such accusations are ostensibly being made.” Thomas Sowell
Since the Ontario election was called, there have been numerous editorials, Letters to the Editor, op-eds and general hand-wringing about the current housing “affordability crisis”. But if anyone wants a pretty clear picture as to why we have a “crisis”, (I don’t think we do, so I must be in the minority), all you have to do is read today’s Editorial. It talks about a couple of development projects underway in Cambridge and Kitchener. It also gives us some stats on general price increases over the last few years. But the most interesting part of this Editorial is the last few sentences: “In this region, developers want the right to build their condos on some of the most sought-after real estate in Canada. In return for being granted this privilege, they should be sensitive to the community’s needs and willing to help it meet them. Kitchener is already hitting its density targets for its core. At this point, the developers need city council as much as it needs them.” So for the “privilege” of buying land, designing a structure, taking a risk on building the property, attempting to sell the units for a profit, the Editorial Board thinks that councils should then somehow blackmail developers into being “sensitive to the community’s needs and willing to help it meet them.” Right. Got it. And just how much do these perks add to the cost of each unit? Well, that isn’t discussed or addressed in the Editorial of course except to acknowledge that “…the developer pledged at least $600,000 to help a local affordable housing project.” The high cost of housing is a local issue. And it starts with the nonsense that is generated by the idiots at local councils – and amplified by the local idiots at TheRecord’s Editorial Board.
Ricardo Tranjan is a Political “Economist” and Senior “Researcher” at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). He has an op-ed on the Editorial Page today suggesting that: “Social assistance rates keep recipients in poverty.” Of course, any op-ed from the CCPA writes itself. Standard stuff. I get it. He tells us that in Ontario, “…863,000 people in 571,000 households live in deep poverty while receiving social assistance.” Not sure where he got that stat since he doesn’t tell us. Again, standard stuff. I tried to verify this number but couldn’t because he doesn’t define “social assistance”. There are a number of programs that assist people in Ontario – not sure if he added all of them up? Of course, I assume that certain individuals are on multiple programs. Again, when you’re from the CCPA, I guess you can just pick a number, any number, to justify your agenda. But with all of these one side only op-eds, not once have I every read about suggestions or ideas of the how or why people are on these programs and never have I read about suggestions or ideas of the how to get people off these programs. But then again, standard stuff, standard op-ed, standard agenda.