Douc CoLLins

© on the other hand «

BELIEVE IT or not, I have a heart. I know because it
thumps when I ski. Still, siding with the multitudes who yell
for rent controls and want to beat up greedy landlords can

only lead to heartbreak.

Like the poor, greedy landlords
are always with us, of course. They
are with us in West Van, in North
Van, and everywhere else. Taking
advantage of the market, the
devils. And we've seen greedy de-
velopers in Vancouver destroying
perfectly good rental units so that
expensive condominiums can be
put up.

The other side of the coin is that
we are all sinners, and that some
sinners have greater opportunities
than others. Some sin directly,
other indirectly. 1 am an indirect
sinner. I nest in a pleasant apart-
ment, Knowing very well that four
old rental houses had to be pulled
down so that our place could be
built. Nobody’s perfect.

So the storm rages against the
free enterprise window. Sad cases
of single Mums having to move are
trotted out nightly on the gog-
glebox; socialist academics scream
that the supply side has failed; the
NDP stalks the land, promising
rent controls and sunny skies.

North Van City joins the chorus
and the District cries the blues; in
Vancouver, Gordon Campbell tries
to steer the stiff breeze in the pro-
vincial government’s direction and
talks about ‘Californian devel-
opers’’ while not mentioning
the ones from Hong Kong. “‘Rent
review’’ boards are called for,
“reviews”’ not giving out such a
bad smell as controls but meaning
the same thing.

If controls are that great, why
weren’t the B.C. rentalsmen in
favor of them? Barry Clark was
the first, and he ended up turning
thumbs down on them. Jim Pat-
terson followed him, and J watch-

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ed his growing disillusion. The
whole thing was a bad bureaucratic
dream.

Rent controls are the cheap poli-
tician’s cheap way out of a costly
problem, the quick answer that
turneth away wrath.

Ou at UBC, an
academic who heads the

Centre for Human
Settlements (which settles
no humans) comes out
for rent controls. Of
course. What else do you
expect from the
universities?’’

Mind you, if I were paying rent
and someone said the rent would
be more or less frozen, it would be
wonderful. It would also be
wonderful if there were free din-
ners for all at my favorite restau-
rant. Trouble is, there would then
be no favorite restaurant. Equally,
rent controls are a mirage in the
desert of socialism.

In B.C., they meant that the in-
evitable ‘‘allowable increases’
would be imposed in all cases
whether or not they were justified
in all cases. In the U.K., for over
30 years, no landlord could get rid
of a bad tenant. In New York,
where the politicians are cheapeg,
than cheap, controls have been a

disaster.

A recent article in a British
newspaper compared the scene in
the South Bronx to London after
the Blitz.

“*Landlords, unable to carry out
repairs because of controlled rents,
have simply abandoned huge
blocks of buildings on streets
which, half a century ago, were as
elegant as any in New York. The
buildings are gutted and deserted?
offering no return on capital or
shelter to the many homeless peo-
ple who live in the subways or are
a heavy charge on the city funds in
downtown welfare hotels.’’

Out at UBC, an academic who
heads the Centre for Human Set-
tlements (which settles no humans)
comes out for rent controls. Of
course. What else do you expect
from the universities?

According to him, fewer rental
units were built after rent controls
were lifted in 1983, not more. So
in his view the supply side has fail-
ed.
*‘What about that, Walter?” [
asked guru Walter Block of the
Fraser Institute.

He didn’t hesitate. ‘‘That’s
because there’s such a fear of rent
controls,’’ he said. ‘*Why should
anyone put money into rental
housing when the NDP is around
promising to put them back on?
Look at office construction. No
shortages there, and that’s because
no-one threatens to put controls on
offices.”’

In places like Dallas and
Phoenix, he went on, the vacancy
rate in rental housing is double
digit because rent controls are
never on the agenda.

If you have a heart, too, you
should tell the NDP and the rent-
control gang to get lost. Perma-
nently. That way, the sad Mums
might find some rental housing @

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9 ~ Wednesday, January 31, 1990 - North Shore News

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