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刚找到今天的新闻. 篇幅长了点. 但中心思想是: 政府没通过动议. 房主还可以随意涨价. 大家对政府的批评很多. 但无可奈何.
/ A& z6 x( c$ R, X2 F4 RReconsider rent controls, premier told7 S4 G% L0 f3 y6 U! P$ F
Councillor says Tories' failure to take action on extreme increases 'misguided, irresponsible' v8 c e, p2 h4 X
Duncan Thorne and Andrea Sands, The Edmonton Journal6 x5 c- O J: O/ Y
Published: Monday, May 07, 2007
! W0 _ }' A h! L- @EDMONTON - Premier Ed Stelmach should consider rent controls despite a vote against them by Tory convention delegates, city councillors say.7 V+ t3 {/ J) q. r. H+ O( E, K
( G* F5 r. k( xCoun. Michael Phair said Sunday rent controls are essential, while Coun. Terry Cavanagh, who once had the job of phasing out provincial rent controls, urged Stelmach to look seriously at bringing them back.
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4 Z. ~3 u: T* z% M% VStelmach appeared open to the idea Friday when he said $1,000-a-month increases that had been reported are "un-Albertan."
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/ `& U! `3 h- T/ i: }6 C- E2 hFont: ****Municipal Affairs Minister Ray Danyluk attacked "unscrupulous" landlords.* s# |- `6 }! S& V
* M6 t6 W! e. H# C6 K3 q, lThen, Conservative delegates voted Saturday against controls. Stelmach said they made their opposition clear, while Danyluk said the issue is now "dead."
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# O- x* _- ]% L# w: ~) t"It's very misguided," Phair said. "There are many people who rent across the province who will be quite disappointed that the party didn't take a different course of action."8 Z9 V$ G) R* o; W$ ]/ `2 ]7 }
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He hopes Stelmach "will actively pursue initiatives that effectively confine rent increases to amounts that are affordable to renters."
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: C. V" A' @6 m |- EPressure will keep building for the province to act, Phair said. "It will be irresponsible for the government to not take some kind of action."! J, t9 H/ _. C; p- j; {0 b/ @
. G# n$ b# M. tBig increases could force some people virtually on to the streets, he said. "The ideology that you can't interfere is not appropriate.". p1 b: ]5 U7 E% h
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A provincial task force recommended rent controls because of large increases across the province in the last 12 to 18 months, Phair said. He said the problem is more widespread than people realize.+ z) Z+ |8 `. U! I O/ g
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Alberta introduced rent controls in 1975, when inflation soared. Coun. Terry Cavanagh was chairman of the provincial rent "decontrol" board that oversaw the phase-out of the controls between 1977 and 1980.$ k4 C6 L1 L8 d! R; r5 L, Z
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Cavanagh said Stelmach should consider them again. "It's something the province has to look at, when you have people whose rents are going from $550 to $1,100.! t' _8 h4 S( ~
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"Their wages aren't going up 100 per cent," he said. "It's going to be difficult for them to pay."
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) B; g# a% Q! Q8 _2 F4 b8 o% QControls were phased out in an orderly fashion when he ran the decontrol board, Cavanagh said.
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Landlords were allowed limited annual increases so that, once an apartment's rent exceeded a certain amount, controls came off.# k1 K9 A- i2 g
4 y# g2 {2 I0 c7 SThat way the pricier units, presumably occupied by higher-income tenants, came out of control first, he said.. ~! K% w- w w5 z
% R# V9 C& z2 ^5 bCavanagh said landlords are entitled to increases, to a point. "Thirty per cent would be pretty good for someone who bought a building 30 years ago and has paid off the mortgage."
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, S8 d+ _! l% O, [5 w3 }) ~0 RCity staff are working on a report expected in June that looks at the city's options for tackling the rent squeeze without provincial help.% L9 i- \+ p7 W+ o% Z
" @% ]8 F* Z W7 k, o/ X' BThe director of the University of Toronto's Centre for Urban and Community Studies dismissed Alberta government promises to shield tenants from unfair rent increases without legislating rent controls.3 H$ r! A% Y' N' h$ q# j
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"There's only one way to do it -- by regulating rents in a situation of extreme demand for housing," David Hulchanski said.
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A provincial fund of $7 million intended for people facing evictions because of rent hikes is a "political fig leaf" that subsidizes landlords at taxpayers' expense, Hulchanski said.6 B' T$ z1 m( A6 S
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"It's a very unconservative thing to do -- to take taxpayer dollars and do that," he said. "It's merely subsidizing the problem." |
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