This morning when I woke up in a state of anxiety I reviewed David Menzies' arrest of January 8 2024 and his arrest of March 15 2024. It was a travesty. The cops knew they were being filmed by Rebel News and they still did the arrests. What an embarrassment for Canada. I wonder how many hits the videos got. Their bad behavior will be forgotten but David's reputation will be tainted forever. Was he guilty of assaulting a police officer, was he guilty of obstructing police. Who is going to go to the trouble of researching/looking at the videos. Guilty or not, he is tainted as the public would think why would the police charge anyone unless that person was guilty.
I do not know why I even bother to view my emails Each day there is something that I personally relate to causing me to be annoyed. This time it was about a woman in Campbell River (Vancouver Sun March 21 2024) She is looking for a new rental and she can't find one because she is not eligible as her income is not enough. Her income is $2,500 a month and the rental is $1,600. That means unless you are a high earner, market housing does not have to accept you as a tenant if you have a low income. Why is it any concern of a landlord to know what your income is as long as you pay your first and last month's rent and the security deposit. This is blatant discrimination by income. We are talking about shelter that is or should be a human right, not a credit card application. It is up to the renter to determine if he can pay the rent or not. There is no reason for a landlord to know what your salary is. What happened to confidentiality.
As a side note: Like social housing, market housing should be rent based on household income. Those that rent cheap housing but make a high income should pay 1/3 of their household income for rent. 1/3 of $21,000 (annual rent) is $7000; 1/3 of $99,000 is $33,000. Those that live in cheap housing will quickly upgrade leaving the cheaper housing available to low-income households. I personally know of no one who pays more than 1/3 of their income on rent. But I know those that have paid cash for a new $80,000 car and have $500,000 in their bank accounts while paying $1,000 a month rent. Those that have lived in the same apartment for over ten years. I would live in a rent controlled apartment if I could bank $33,000 a year.
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A solution for the government is to tax household income after rent. That can be done by taking 1/3 of a householder's income less his rental payment. If a tenant is paying $1,000 a month and the household has $150,000 a year (or more) income, the difference 1/3 of $150,000 = $50,000, then $50,000 less $12,000 (rent to owner) = $38,000 additional disposal income. The household pays 1/3 of its income for housing, and there is $100,000 left, enough to live comfortably. This meets the metric that rent should not be more than 1/3 of household income. The government should legislate that they get the difference ($38,000 ) and can use this money to increase the stock of housing for the poor and new immigrants.
