Toronto has introduced yet another bylaw—effective July 31—targeting landlords. The new “renoviction” rules are intended to protect tenants from so-called bad-faith landlords who evict tenants under the guise of renovations. While framed as tenant protection, policies like this almost guarantee fewer people will invest in Toronto real estate, particularly rental housing.
Why Toronto Has So Many Empty Condos
Toronto’s skyline is full of empty condominiums, not because of strong local demand, but because the market was driven by domestic and foreign investors who treat housing like a financial asset, similar to stocks. This situation was encouraged—if not created—by federal involvement through CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation), which has long distorted the housing market in the name of “affordability.”
Instead of allowing a competitive market to set prices, government intervention has led to overbuilding, speculation, and a wave of investor-driven condo construction that does little for actual residents.
The Real Cause: Regulation and Price Controls
This crisis was not caused by Airbnb or “greedy landlords” but by decades of policies rooted in socialist thinking. Heavy regulation, red tape, and price controls—combined with taxpayer-backed CMHC mortgage insurance—distort supply and create a false sense of security for investors.
When landlords are constrained by these rules, they have less incentive to build or maintain rental housing. Would you invest in a property if the law gave your tenants more rights over your property than you have yourself?
In a healthy, competitive housing market, bad landlords would fail naturally, driven out by better-run competitors. Instead, Toronto adds more layers of bureaucracy, creating a slow and unresponsive system.
What Happens Without Market Incentives
In a truly free market, bad behavior is corrected through competition, transparency, and risk.
- Insurance companies act as a check: if a property is uninsurable, that signals a serious issue.
- Online reviews now expose both bad landlords and bad tenants, reducing the need for heavy-handed government oversight.
But in Toronto, housing policy is written as if these market forces don’t exist.
The Result: Stagnation, Not Solutions
Because CMHC guarantees much of the mortgage market, developers know that taxpayers will absorb losses, creating moral hazard. This system artificially props up property values, ensuring that true price corrections—or “deflation” in housing—rarely happen.
Instead, the market stagnates. Condos sit empty. Rental units are underbuilt. And yet, rather than addressing root causes, governments respond with even more regulation, such as the new renoviction rules.
The Bigger Picture: A Cultural Shift
What we are witnessing is not simply a housing policy failure. It’s the result of a cultural and spiritual shift away from personal responsibility and toward dependency on government.
When faith in God and community is replaced with reliance on bureaucracy, society becomes less innovative and more controlling. Secular, socialist policies tend to create environments where:
- Tent cities become normal.
- “Safe injection sites” appear next to schools.
- Assisted suicide becomes a policy solution.
In essence, these policies create a slow-motion collapse of cities like Toronto.
How Christian Principles Offer Better Solutions
Historically, Christian communities were central to helping people out of poverty—teaching personal responsibility, supporting recovery from addiction, and fostering self-reliance. These values build strong, clean, and safe neighborhoods.
Instead, modern secular society has handed these roles to government programs that fail to produce results. Where churches once helped rehabilitate lives, the state now offers “quick fixes,” and those fixes often make the situation worse.
True property rights—rooted in freedom and personal accountability—are difficult for a society to uphold if it rejects the idea that those rights are a gift from God, not from the state.
Final Thoughts
The new renoviction bylaw will not solve Toronto’s housing issues. It is just another example of government overreach attacking private property instead of addressing the real problems: red tape, misguided subsidies, and a cultural shift away from responsibility.
Until Canadians rediscover the value of faith, freedom, and self-reliance, policies like this will continue to lead to stagnation—not solutions.
Consider making Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior today.
