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Tag: rent

  • Breaking up is hard—especially when you can’t afford to leave – MoneySense

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    When and how to plan your move

    The move has to be thought through in stages, said Chantel Chapman, founder of Trauma of Money, a certification program that teaches professionals a trauma-sensitive approach to money.

    First, it’s important to identify the urgency of moving out, she said. If you’re not safe in the environment, the urgency is high. “If that’s the case, then you don’t really have the privilege of planning. It’s more about survival,” she said. Chapman said in these circumstances, it would be better to stay with a friend or family member to avoid dealing with an unsafe or difficult environment.

    If there’s no safety concern, there’s a bit more room to think through the change.

    Mapping your move: finances and emotional readiness

    While it looks different for everyone, Chapman said to start with mapping what moving out would look like and how much it would cost. Then plan realistically how quickly you’d be able to acquire the funds to do so. Take that timeline and compare it with your emotional capacity, she said. “There’s a lot of back and forth between the dollars and the budget required, and then your emotional capacity, your emotional budget,” Chapman said.

    Heather Thom often hears concerns from her clients about whether they’d be able to move out, find a place that’s still close to work or family, and land on their feet again. “There are so many things that they would have to figure out,” Thom, a registered professional counsellor and life coach, said. “But it’s also they’re starting over and it could be very scary.”

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    Thom said it’s important to set a deadline for a move-out so you can mentally prepare. She suggested allowing yourself two to three months to get your finances in order.

    “A lot of people who are living together have shared expenses and they might not necessarily think about that right away when they breakup,” Thom said. Many couples share rent, groceries, utility, and internet costs, and it’s easier to pay bills in a dual-income household, she said. “It can be quite a shock to them in terms of how expensive things can be after leaving the relationship,” Thom said.

    Thom said you also need to figure out what happens to the current home—who moves out and who stays, who will embark on an exhausting hunt for a new home and shoulder the overall cost of moving. “There’s just a lot of decision fatigue that can happen during that time,” she said. 

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    How to emotionally detach after a breakup

    After the breakup but while you’re still in the same space, Thom said it’s important to set boundaries and emotionally detach yourself, such as limiting interactions in shared spaces and having minimal conversations about daily life or future plans. That might mean not having meals together, cooking together, or going shopping together, for example.

    Chapman said people who’ve lived together for a long time need to check their legal rights and responsibilities. She said if a couple has a cohabitation agreement, it would help look at the assets or liabilities they each brought into the relationship.

    Prioritizing your needs while still sharing a home

    Chapman said prioritizing needs is important in this situation and whether you choose to stay or leave right away, there are pros and cons.

    Prioritizing finances may mean facing awkward situations in the shared home for a few weeks or months, while focusing on mental health by moving quickly risks rushing into a decision—or a new place—that may not be good for you.

    Thom said prolonging your stay after the breakup can also raise the risk of being pulled back into the relationship. The affordability panic, combined with the fresh hurt of a relationship breakdown, can make it really easy to romanticize the relationship even when it has run its course, she said.

    “They’re afraid of what the future is going to look like without their life partner, and also financially,” Thom said. “People need to just recognize that, yeah, it might be tough for a little while, but things will get better.”

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  • Owe back rent due to wildfires, ICE raids? Find out how to apply to LA County for help

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    After only allowing landlords to apply for cash assistance, a second round of Los Angeles County’s emergency rent relief program for survivors of the 2025 wildfires and for households impacted by federal immigration crackdowns begins on Tuesday, Feb. 9.

    This time, tenants themselves can initiate the application, which can prompt awards for back rent and for payments owed utilities, such as electric power and water.

    But there is a catch: Although the tenant can apply, their application must be accompanied by a second document from the landlord. If the tenant meets income eligibility requirements, and indeed owes back rent or utility bills, as long as the landlord agrees, the application can go through, according to rules from the county’s Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA).

    Each applicant can receive up to $15,000. All awards go to the landlords or property owners, who clear the back rents or pay the utilities of the tenant applicant. The window for tenant applications opens Feb. 9 at 9 a.m. and closes Wednesday, March 11 at 4:59 p.m.

    “The County’s Emergency Rent Relief Program has reaffirmed what we already know to be true – Los Angeles County residents are navigating undue hardship and financial challenges due to emergencies like federal immigration enforcement and the 2025 wildfires,” said Los Angeles County Board Chair and First District Supervisor, Hilda L. Solis in a prepared statement.

    For those affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires, the rent relief includes those laid off if their place of employment was destroyed or their work hours were reduced, resulting in lost wages. Even more than a year later, those displaced by the fires still need help paying rent or mortgages and would be eligible for up to six months of rent relief, not to exceed $15,000.

    The Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed 11,000 homes and 2,000 businesses. Some groups report only about 30% are rebuilding. A majority are still paying temporary rental charges and allotments from their insurance is expiring.

    “For families still recovering from the Eaton Fire, housing stability is essential to getting back on their feet,” said Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger in a prepared statement.

    In the first round, which closed Jan. 23, a total of 4,644 applications were received, the county reported. It is not known how many awards were given out since most of these are still being vetted, said Keven Chavez, spokesperson for the DCBA. Small landlords in unincorporated areas whose units sustained damage are eligible for six months of rent relief not to exceed $15,000, as long as the units were returned to the rental market. Landlords may still apply in the next round.

    For those tenants, including both in unincorporated county communities and in cities, who have sustained economic hardships such as a sudden loss of income due to federal immigration raids, are eligible for up to six months of rent relief not to exceed $15,000.

    “The urgent need for housing stability and to keep people housed is the reason behind LA County’s Emergency Rent Relief program,” said Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell in a prepared statement.

    The reopening of the $30 million program so that tenants can apply directly comes at a time when families are losing income due to the arrest of main breadwinners placed in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents, said Third District Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.

    “My intent was always for tenants to be included because access to relief should not depend on who initiates the application. Allowing tenants to apply directly helps remove barriers and ensures assistance reaches families who need it most,” said Horvath.

    “With the opening of Round 2, by expanding that access to allow tenants to initiate the process, that reduces the barriers, allows more people to get the process started, get them access and to the finish line,” Chavez said.

    Marisa Prietto, a communications specialist and volunteer with The Rent Brigade, a grassroots group keeping track of rising rents in LA County, has found rents had increased in many areas by 300%, as landlords took advantage of the increased demand.

    “The last year we’ve seen extreme price gouging,” she said.

    Prietto said even now, the rent relief program is necessary to help those displaced by the January 2025 fires in Altadena and the Palisades. But she said the county program is not perfect.

    For example, many landlords who did not apply in the first round could more easily evict tenants, then rent out the unit at a much higher rent to a new tenant. Even with tenants’ applications, the landlords could simply look at the economics and not accept the deal and instead find a tenant willing to pay more per month, she said.

    “The main problem with it is the eviction protections aren’t strong enough to incentivize landlords to use the program (which is voluntary),” she said.

    The DCBA is hoping more tenants apply in this round than landlords did in the first round. But the application process is not yet open. The application will be open at the website: lacountyrentrelief.com

    “This program is an important first step that will bring much needed relief to some of the most vulnerable in our community,” said Chris Baca, director of humanitarian & migrant assistance at Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA). “Our hope is for this program can bring relief to as many people who need it, and that it becomes a model of how to respond to the housing crises caused by disasters and other unforeseen emergencies.”

    In the meantime, Chavez encourages all tenants who think they may be eligible to go to the website anyway and put in their preliminary information and get on the program’s notification list. They can become familiar with the questions they will be asked, such as income, living situation and how they’ve become affected by either emergency.

    For those not tech-savvy, they can reach out to DCBA partners who can guide them through the application process. The following partners are available for help: Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, (323) 697-3952, jcoria@cluejustice.org; Klimt Consulting LLC, (424) 265-1700, landlord@klimtllc.com; Chinatown Service Center, (323) 909-7385, socialservices@cscla.org; Comunidades Indigenas en Liderazgo (CIELO), (213) 341-9659, Angeln@mycielo.org or Info@mycielo.org.

    “Rent relief is about stability — keeping people safe in their homes and making sure landlords stay whole,” said Fourth District Supervisor Janice Hahn in a prepared statement. “This is real help, not a loan, and it does not depend on immigration status.”

     

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    Steve Scauzillo

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  • Why 2026 could be a year to rent, not buy – MoneySense

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    Landlords across Canada are increasingly dangling such incentives, along with other common perks like free parking, waived pet fees, and moving allowances, to compete for new tenants. After a post-pandemic surge in rental costs, real estate watchers say the scales have tipped back in favour of renters amid falling prices, higher vacancy rates, and uncertainty in the housing market overall. 

    “It’s a race to the bottom,” said Marco Pedri, a Toronto-based broker with Shoreline Realty who specializes in leasing transactions. “We talk about the inventory of all these new buildings. These landlords are competing with one another, driving the prices down.”

    Rental supply surges as demand shifts to leasing

    That trend seems poised to continue for much of this year, especially after 2025 marked the second consecutive year of record rental housing starts in Canada. Experts say more apartment completions are also expected this year as projects wrap up, giving renters additional choice. “The math works better for rentals than for large home ownership projects right now,” said Mathieu Laberge, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s chief economist.

    But with so many new listings and prices falling, the question is whether demand from renters will follow in 2026. Some real estate agents believe that’s already begun.

    Tom Storey of Royal LePage Signature Realty said 2025 was one of his team’s biggest years for leasing transactions. He said demand for rentals gained steam as fewer clients were willing to step off the sidelines in the sales market.

    “What was clear to me is that the need for real estate hasn’t changed, but in 2025, how people chose to access it was a lot more on the leasing side than the purchase side,” said Storey, adding that declining sales prices and lower interest rates have also prompted buyers to hold off as they wait for the market to “bottom out.”

    “That seems to me one of the many reasons why people chose to rent for the short-term, because rental prices had dropped as well. Starting rents in 2025 were lower than they were in 2024 and 2023.”

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    Rents keep falling, but affordability pressures remain

    December 2025 marked the 15th consecutive month that average asking rents fell nationally year-over-year, according to analysis from Rentals.ca and Urbanation based on listings data from the former’s network. They say average asking rents in Canada fell 3.1% overall in 2025 and are down 5.4% from two years ago. In December, asking rents fell around 8% in Vancouver, 5% in Toronto and Calgary, 2% in Montreal, and 0.5% in Ottawa on an annual basis.

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    But affordability concerns linger. At $2,060, the overall average asking rent in Canada last month was down 2.3% from a year ago. But that’s still nearly 3% higher than the national average asking rent of three years earlier, according to the report. Asking rents are also still around 14% higher than pre-pandemic levels of December 2019.

    Rentals.ca spokesman Giacomo Ladas said property managers are now coping with a double whammy—lots of new supply available, plus a relatively shallow pool of renters. While some tenants are still feeling priced out of the market, movement has also slowed after the federal government introduced an immigration cap, which has stunted population growth. Demand also typically cools in the winter months, he said, resulting in both lower asking prices and incentive offers aplenty.

    “What’s important to note as well is that we are still expecting a lot more supply coming into the market,” said Ladas, noting about 180,000 units are currently under construction across Canada. “Based on the end of last year, we were seeing negative population growth, so we don’t expect demand really to pick up any time soon, but more supply is on its way. Because of that, we see vacancy rates increase.”

    Economic uncertainty cools renter and buyer movement

    Meanwhile, the rental market wasn’t immune to last year’s widespread economic uncertainty linked to trade concerns, which clouded Canada’s real estate outlook. Some local real estate boards say the trade dispute led to fewer resale transactions than initially forecasted. Many potential first-time buyers took a wait-and-see approach that still lingers, holding onto their rentals instead of moving forward with plans to own. 

    Similarly, renters were less inclined to pay premium prices, said Ladas, even though developers pushed ahead with purpose-built rental projects, having borrowed money to build them before tariffs went into effect.

    “People were staying in their rental apartments longer and we weren’t seeing turnover rates increase,” he said. The average two-bedroom turnover unit rent declined in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Halifax last year, according to CMHC data. The national housing agency said the vacancy rate for purpose-built rental apartments sat at 3.1% in the fall, up from 2.2% at the same point in 2024 and above the national 10-year average.

    2026 shaping up as renter-friendly year

    Laberge said the agency believes 2026 will be another renter-friendly year in most Canadian markets. With additional supply expected from other ongoing projects, he said it will give incomes time to catch up to rent growth of previous years. “When the turnover rents start going down, there’s more fluidity in the market,” he said.

    For now, the dynamic has allowed clients more freedom to pick and choose where they live, said Pedri. A more affordable environment means they can prioritize factors such as location or amenities when moving, instead of having to settle. Pedri said many are also opting to lock into rent-controlled units while prices are lower.

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  • How does rent from a family member or common-law partner get taxed? – MoneySense

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    Rental income

    When you earn rental income, you report it on your personal tax return on Form T776 Statement of Real Estate Rentals. You can claim rental expenses to reduce your taxable rental income. Common expenses include:

    • Advertising
    • Insurance
    • Mortgage interest
    • Legal and accounting fees
    • Management fees
    • Condo fees
    • Repairs and maintenance
    • Property taxes
    • Utilities

    This list is not exhaustive, and repairs and maintenance can be complicated because some expenses that are more lasting in nature—like a renovation—may be capital expenses that must be depreciated over time.

    Rental losses

    If you have more expenses than income, you can have a rental loss. A net rental loss can be deducted from your other sources of income. This can result in tax savings. 

    If you have consistent rental losses, especially if the losses result from charging a low rent, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) may start asking questions. 

    Renting below fair market value

    If you are charging below market rent because you have a long-time tenant and provincial guidelines limit rent increases, that may be an exception. But if the rent is low because you have a non-arm’s length individual like a family member you are giving a good deal, this may negate your ability to claim rental losses. 

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    “In certain cases, you may ask your son or daughter, or anyone else living with you, to pay a small amount for the upkeep of your house or to cover the cost of groceries,” according to the CRA. “You do not report this amount in your income, and you cannot claim rental expenses. This is a cost-sharing arrangement, so you cannot claim a rental loss.”

    This seems to be the case with your clients, Hans, so I would say the “rent” is not taxable rental income, at least in the eyes of the CRA. 

    Common-law status

    You mention a three-year time horizon for common-law status in Ontario. This is a family law concept and may apply when two people are living in a conjugal relationship concept. After three years of cohabitation, there may be support payments payable by one party to the other should their relationship break down. Exceptions may apply, most notably if they have a child together. 

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    Family law implications can be complex and vary across provinces and territories. In some parts of Canada, common-law couples have the same rights as married couples, and property rights may apply even for common-law couples. 

    Regardless, it is important to note that for tax purposes, there is only a 12-month threshold before common-law status applies. Once a couple has lived together for one year, they must report this change in status on their tax return. It is not optional. 

    When a couple is common-law, they may be able to save tax by combining medical expenses or donations on one spouse’s tax return to claim higher non-refundable tax credits. But they may also lose access to certain means-tested government benefits, like the GST/HST credit. 

    Summary

    Rental expenses can only be deducted when you incur them to earn an income. When someone pays you “rent,” it may not be rent from a tax perspective if it is simply a cost-sharing arrangement. 

    Although you can rent a property to a family member, it must be treated like you would if the tenant was an arm’s length stranger. So, make sure you understand the rules so that you file your tax return correctly.

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    About Jason Heath, CFP


    About Jason Heath, CFP

    Jason Heath is a fee-only, advice-only Certified Financial Planner (CFP) at Objective Financial Partners Inc. in Toronto. He does not sell any financial products whatsoever.

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  • San Diego is much better than L.A. at building apartments. Here’s why

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    As Los Angeles grapples with a housing shortage, it could learn from San Diego, which has proved better at convincing construction companies to build more.

    The city is more welcoming to developers, industry insiders say, with fewer regulations and fees, better planning and less rent control.

    “It is easier to build in San Diego over Los Angeles because of its legal structure, political culture and defined processes,” said Kevin Shannon, co-head of capital markets at real estate brokerage Newmark, which is overseeing the sale of a sprawling development site in San Diego that is zoned to have thousands of apartments.

    The result: As of last quarter, the number of new apartments under construction in San Diego County rose 10% from three years earlier, CoStar data show. New apartment construction in Los Angeles County tumbled 33% over the same period, hitting an 11-year low in the three months through December. San Diego is expanding its apartment pool at nearly twice the rate of L.A. and other major city clusters in the state.

    View of An apartment building is under construction in downtown San Diego on Jan. 16, 2026. The city is more welcoming to developers than Los Angeles, industry insiders say,

    (Sandy Huffaker / For The Times)

    L.A.’s vacancy rate is among the lowest in the country and rental rates are among the highest nationwide. Still, the supply of fresh rental units, which make up the bulk of new housing in Los Angeles, is thinning out despite robust demand.

    Although local lawmakers create regulations to protect renters and keep rents down, hoping to combat homelessness, developers and economists warn that the wrong regulations often can add to the cost of building and maintaining apartments, making it hard to make a profit on new and existing projects. People who already have apartments may be protected, but over the long run, fewer are built, they say.

    Rent control has been at the center of the debate recently. The city of Los Angeles just tightened its rent control.

    It has just lowered the cap on rent increases for rent-stabilized apartments, a massive portion of the city’s housing stock that houses nearly half of the city’s residents. Although the cap doesn’t apply to units built after 1978, it still discourages developers, as it sends the wrong signal to those already worried about restrictions.

    At the state level, a similar housing bill that would have halved the cap on rent increases to 5% a year died in the Assembly last week. Assemblymembers decided that too many restrictions can be counterproductive.

    “That sounds nice and humanly caring and all that and warm and fuzzy, but someone has to pay,” said Assemblymember Diane Dixon (R-Newport Beach). “How far do we squeeze the property owners?”

    San Diego doesn’t have traditional rent control, though it does enforce less restrictive statewide tenant protections.

    In Los Angeles, Measure ULA, known as the mansion tax, is another top reason that developers decide to build elsewhere. They also point to other local regulations that make it challenging to evict tenants who don’t pay their rent.

    “L.A. has been redlined by the majority of the investment community,” apartment developer Ari Kahan of California Landmark Group said in October.

    It’s easier to do business in San Diego because of its real estate development policies, project approval process and overall business-friendly attitude, industry insiders said. It outlines what it wants in a general plan, and if projects line up with that, they can be approved at the city staff level.

    “San Diego has a clear, enforced General Plan, and for the most part, it sticks to it,” Shannon said. “San Diego updates its Community Plan and then lets projects proceed if they comply.”

    “In contrast, L.A.’s General Plan is outdated and inconsistent,” he said. “Almost everything requires discretionary approvals.”

    View of downtown San Diego skyline Jan. 16, 2026.

    A view of the downtown San Diego skyline Jan. 16, 2026. It’s easier to do business in San Diego because of its real estate development policies, project approval process and overall business-friendly attitude, industry insiders said.

    (Sandy Huffaker / For The Times)

    Elected officials in L.A., including the City Council, have the discretion to decide whether a new project can be built, which can add months to its approval process as the proposal winds through City Hall and public meetings.

    “The City of San Diego continues to prioritize the permitting and development of new homes to address our region’s housing needs and support a better future for all San Diegans,” said Peter Kelly, a spokesman for the city Planning Department. “Through updated community plans, streamlined permitting processes and proactive implementation of state housing laws, we are working to increase housing supply and affordability in all neighborhoods.”

    The city updates its Land Development Code annually to streamline the permitting process and accelerate housing production, he said. It also adds capacity to build new homes through rezoning and updates to the city’s community plans, with a focus on placing new homes and jobs near transit, parks and services.

    “If we can bring more supply, it will hopefully bring down rents,” said Kip Malo, a real estate broker in JLL’s San Diego office.

    Most new apartments are being built outside of downtown San Diego, Malo said. “The city has made a concerted effort to try to clean up downtown and it has gotten better, but it’s still got a ways to go.

    Of course, developers in San Diego still face the same headwinds that affect developers in other cities, such as interest rates that make construction loans more expensive than they have been in years past.

    Recent policy out of Washington also hasn’t helped. Higher tariffs have driven up the prices of construction materials and equipment, while the crackdown on undocumented workers has thinned and spooked much of the international workforce on which the industry depends.

    An apartment building is under construction in downtown San Diego on Jan. 16, 2026.

    An apartment building is under construction in downtown San Diego on Jan. 16, 2026. In L.A., elected officials, including the City Council, have the discretion to decide whether a new project can be built, which can add months to its approval process as the proposal winds through City Hall and public meetings.

    (Sandy Huffaker / For The Times)

    California’s construction industry depends on immigrant workers. Around 61% of construction workers in the state are immigrants, and 26% of those are undocumented, according to a June report from the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.

    San Diego is “still California,” Malo said, and has hurdles to get projects approved that aren’t faced by builders in Texas and other states with more lax requirements for new projects, Malo said, but “the political winds have shifted in developers’ favor.”

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    Roger Vincent

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  • Leasing starts at The Langley high-rise in Museum District – Houston Agent Magazine

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    StreetLights Residential began leasing for The Langley, a 134-unit, luxury high-rise building at 1717 Bissonnet St. in Houston.

    Located between the Museum District and Rice University, The Langley features two- and three-bedroom apartments ranging from 2,165 to 3,401 square feet with 10-foot ceilings, oak flooring, private balconies, walk-in closets, smart-home technology, Wolf cooktops, built-in wine coolers and service kitchens.

    Rents start at $9,100 per month. Martha Turner Sotheby’s International Realty is serving as the exclusive listing partner for the project.

    “The Langley stands apart for the care taken at every level — from the scale of the residences to the refinement of the finishes,” Paul Kilian, co-president of Martha Turner Sotheby’s International Realty, said in a press release. “We understand what discerning clients look for, and the Langley delivers it all — quality craftsmanship, unparalleled amenities, thoughtful spatial planning and a rare sense of privacy. We’re proud to represent such a distinctive offering.”

    On-site amenities at The Langley include a private pool deck with cabanas, fireplaces, grills, walking paths and a pizza oven, plus a fitness center, lounge, dog run, pet wash and bike storage. Private garages are available for rent.

    FirstService Residential manages day-to-day operations, including valet, maintenance and concierge services.

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    Emily Marek

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  • Housing shortage and rising rents pose growing economic risk for greater DC region, report says – WTOP News

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    Both a housing shortage and rising rents in the greater D.C. region are becoming problems that present a long-term economic risk, a new report indicates.

    Both a housing shortage and rising rents in the greater D.C. region are becoming problems that present a long-term economic risk, a new report indicates.

    From Baltimore through D.C. and down to Richmond, rising housing costs are deterring job seekers and pushing workers to leave for more affordable areas, according to a new report from the Greater Washington Partnership.

    Kathy Hollinger, CEO of the Greater Washington Partnership, said the ability to find and afford homes has become a critical issue.

    “It has become one of the most material constraints on talent recruitment, retention and long-term economic competitiveness,” Hollinger said.

    The group’s housing playbook found that the region is short roughly 390,000 housing units.

    Of that shortage, D.C. accounts for the largest share, followed by Baltimore and Richmond. The report said vacancy rates are at historic lows, and about half of all renters in the region are feeling pressed.

    “Half of renters are cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of income on housing,” Hollinger said.

    Employers are feeling the effects when it comes to hiring, especially for entry and mid-level positions. One way it shows up is when people turn down job offers after doing the math.

    “Candidates are declining offers after running basic cost of living numbers,” she said.

    To bring about change, the housing playbook calls for zoning reform, which would allow more housing to be built near job centers and transit. It also calls for faster and more predictable permitting to speed up development.

    “Plans don’t move housing, but approvals do,” Hollinger said.

    The report also stressed the importance of preserving existing affordable housing, which it said can often be done more quickly and at a lower cost than building new housing.

    The playbook encourages not just local governments, but also employers, to invest in solutions. Hollinger said some major corporations, including JPMorgan Chase and Amazon, have already invested in the region.

    Hollinger said companies aren’t treating housing investments as charity, but as a practical way to support their workforce and keep their businesses running.

    “This is not philanthropy on the part of private sector. For private sector, it’s workforce infrastructure,” she said.

    Without action, Hollinger warned the region risks losing more than just workers.

    “If we are not thinking about how we collaboratively address this issue, we are at risk for losing more talent; not only talent, but families,” she said.

    She said that would also mean the greater D.C. region risks losing its future leadership pipeline.

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    Mike Murillo

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  • DFW one of the hardest areas for minimum-wage workers to afford rent, study says

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    The sun rises behind downtown Fort Worth’s skyline on Friday, September 9, 2022.

    The sun rises behind downtown Fort Worth’s skyline on Friday, September 9, 2022.

    Fort Worth Star Telegram

    Dallas-Fort Worth is one of the hardest regions in the United States for minimum-wage workers to afford rent, according to a study.

    According to an analysis by Realtor.com, two workers making Texas’ $7.25 minimum hourly wage would have to work 80 hours per week each to afford the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area’s median rent price of $1,441 in December for apartments up to two bedrooms. The only metro areas in the country where earners would have to work more hours are Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, Raleigh, Pittsburgh and San Jose.

    Just five of the country’s 50 largest metro areas have median rent prices that the study deemed affordable for minimum wage workers without having to work overtime. All of those metros — Buffalo, N.Y., Rochester, N.Y., St. Louis, Phoenix, and Kansas City, Mo. — have a statewide minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

    Detroit and Jacksonville are expected to join that list in 2026 after Michigan and Florida pass upcoming legislation to raise their wage floors.

    In Buffalo, the most affordable metro area in the country according to the study, two workers making New York’s state minimum wage of $15.50 would need to work just 30 hours per week each to afford the medium rent price of $1,176 in December.

    Dallas-Fort Worth’s December median rent price of $1,441 for apartments two bedrooms or smaller is below the $1,693 median rent price for all the nation’s top 50 metros combined. But because of Texas’ low minimum wage rate of $7.25, Dallas-Fort Worth is still one of the hardest metro areas for those workers to afford rent, according to the analysis.

    Minimum wage earners in Texas’ other major metro areas in Texas, including Houston, Austin and San Antonio, are required to work fewer hours to make their city’s median rent price than they are in Dallas-Fort Worth. In Houston, it would take 76 hours to afford the median rent of $1,369. In San Antonio, it would take 67 hours to afford the $1,207 median rent.

    Other cities around the country deemed more cost-friendly for minimum-wage workers include Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, Miami, Seattle, Denver and Chicago. Although all of those metro areas have higher median rent prices, they are also in states that have sustainably higher wages floors.

    Rent prices in Fort Worth and across the country as a whole have slowly dropped in recent years, but the overall median rent cost between the top 50 metros combined was still 17% higher than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic in November 2019.

    Samuel O’Neal

    Fort Worth Star-Telegram

    Samuel O’Neal is a local news reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram covering higher education and southwest Fort Worth. He joined the team in December 2025 after previously working as a staff writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He graduated from Temple University, where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the school’s student paper, The Temple News.

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    Samuel O’Neal

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  • $33,000 a month to rent an apartment? Welcome to Southlake

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    Residences at Southlake is just a few minutes’ walk from the city’s town square and offers a luxurious lifestyle.

    Residences at Southlake is just a few minutes’ walk from the city’s town square and offers a luxurious lifestyle.


    Rachel Royster

    rroyster@star-telegram.com

    Stand-alone bathtubs, marble backsplashes and closets double the size of the bathroom. For up to $33,000 a month, it could all be yours.

    Just off of Texas 114, Residences at Southlake is “designed for indulgence,” according its website. Rents are befitting a community where the average household income is $380,000 and the average home is $1.3 million.

    Two-bedroom options begin at $9,360 per month for 1,707 square feet and run up through $14,415 for 2,221 square feet. Three bedrooms are $14,975 for 2,925 square feet and a staggering $33,265 for 3,489 square feet.

    Just a mile down the road, though, is a 6,000 square-foot mansion listed for just $15,000 a month. The rental is complete with 5 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms, a pool, hot tub and movie room. In Westlake, $22,000 a month gets you 6,700 square feet of space in a miniature castle. The rental has 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms and two spare kitchenettes.

    The top listing at downtown Fort Worth’s Deco 969 is $11,090 for a two-bedroom unit on the 26th floor.

    Many of the 22 floor plans at the Residences at Southlake have patios and terraces and extensive closet space. Some of the outdoor spaces include a kitchen area.

    The two four-floor buildings feature underground parking and a private dining area in the sky lounge. Other amenities include a dog spa, private co-working areas and EV charging stations.

    One of the Residences at Souhtlake buildings is move-in ready, and the other is nearing the end of construction. The luxury apartment complex is just a few minutes’ walk from Town Square.

    “We’ve had quite a good set of interest from prospective renters, and we’ve given multiple tours to the HOAs at the Brownstone and Parkview properties, which are the condos right next door,” said a spokesperson for the Residences. “The support we’ve gotten has been overwhelming, it’s been really positive.”

    These apartments range from $9,000 to $33,000 a month. Located just a few blocks from Southlake Town Square, the buildings are designed for a luxurious lifestyle.
    These apartments range from $9,000 to $33,000 a month. Located just a few blocks from Southlake Town Square, the buildings are designed for a luxurious lifestyle. Rachel Royster rroyster@star-telegram.com

    Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram

    Rachel Royster

    Fort Worth Star-Telegram

    Rachel Royster is a news and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, specifically focused on Tarrant County. She joined the newsroom after interning at the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald and Capital Community News in DC. A Houston native and Baylor grad, Rachel enjoys traveling, reading and being outside. She welcomes any and all news tips to her email.

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    Rachel Royster

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  • United Way distributes thousands of Thanksgiving meal kits to families in Central Florida

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    IN CENTRAL FLORIDA, AND THE LONG LINES SHOW THAT MANY PEOPLE ARE IN NEED OF FOOD THIS YEAR. CARS STRETCHED AROUND THE BLOCK THIS MORNING AT VALENCIA COLLEGE. HEART OF FLORIDA, UNITED WAY DISTRIBUTED 6000 THANKSGIVING MEAL OR MEAL KITS TO FAMILIES IN NEED. MORE THAN A THOUSAND VOLUNTEERS PACKED THOSE MEALS THIS WEEK AT THE CENTRAL FLORIDA FAIRGROUNDS. THE ORGANIZATION SUPPORTS LOCAL WORKING FAMILIES WITH LIMITED ASSETS AND INCOME. THEY SAY THAT THESE FAMILIES ARE OFTEN LEFT CHOOSING BETWEEN RENT, MEDICINE AND PUTTING A HOLIDAY MEAL ON THE TABLE. THAT’S ENOUGH FOOD TO FEED 24,000 PEOPLE. THIS THURSDAY MORNING FOR THANKSGIVING, WE GIVE AWAY MEALS THAT ARE UNCOOKED. FAMILIES GO HOME. THEY CAN COOK THEIR MEAL TOGETHER AND HOPEFULLY ENJOY THE SAME MEAL THAT WE’LL HAVE THIS COMING THURSDAY. NO MATTER WHAT’S GOING ON, EVERYBODY WANTS TO LEND A HAND. AND THAT’S SO IMPORTANT BECAUSE PEOPLE DON’T ALWAYS GET ALONG. AND RIGHT NOW, A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE NOT GETTING ALONG. AND THIS IS WHAT WE NEED. WE NEED PEOPLE TO GIVE, TO WELCOME AND TO EMBRACE. WE CERTAINLY DO. EACH KIT INCLUDES A SHELF STABLE, FAVORITES, CANNED VEGETABLES, MASHED POTATOES AND SEASONINGS, PLUS A GIFT CARD SO THAT FAMILIES CAN BUY THE PROTEIN OF THEIR CHOICE. VOLUNTEERS DISTRIBUTED MEALS AT MULTIPLE LOCATIONS ACROSS ORANGE

    United Way distributes thousands of Thanksgiving meal kits to families in Central Florida

    Updated: 11:27 PM EST Nov 22, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    Heart of Florida United Way distributed 6,000 Thanksgiving meal kits to families in need in Central Florida, with cars stretching around the block at Valencia College.More than 1,000 volunteers packed these meals earlier in the week at the Central Florida Fairgrounds.The organization supports local working families with limited assets and income, who often face difficult choices between rent, medicine, and holiday meals.”It’s enough food to feed 24,000 people this Thursday morning for Thanksgiving. We give meals that are uncooked, families can go ahead and cook their meals and hopefully enjoy the same meal we are having this upcoming Thursday,” Jeff Hayward, president and CEO of Heart of Florida United Way, said. Volunteer Alisa Toro said, “No matter what’s going on, everyone wants to lend a hand, that’s so important because people don’t always get along, and right now not a lot of people are getting along, this is what we need, we need people to give, welcome and to embrace.”Each kit includes shelf-stable favorites such as canned vegetables, mashed potatoes, and seasonings, plus a gift card for families to buy the protein of their choice.Volunteers distributed meals at multiple locations across Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties.

    , Fla. —

    Heart of Florida United Way distributed 6,000 Thanksgiving meal kits to families in need in Central Florida, with cars stretching around the block at Valencia College.

    More than 1,000 volunteers packed these meals earlier in the week at the Central Florida Fairgrounds.

    The organization supports local working families with limited assets and income, who often face difficult choices between rent, medicine, and holiday meals.

    “It’s enough food to feed 24,000 people this Thursday morning for Thanksgiving. We give meals that are uncooked, families can go ahead and cook their meals and hopefully enjoy the same meal we are having this upcoming Thursday,” Jeff Hayward, president and CEO of Heart of Florida United Way, said.

    Volunteer Alisa Toro said, “No matter what’s going on, everyone wants to lend a hand, that’s so important because people don’t always get along, and right now not a lot of people are getting along, this is what we need, we need people to give, welcome and to embrace.”

    Each kit includes shelf-stable favorites such as canned vegetables, mashed potatoes, and seasonings, plus a gift card for families to buy the protein of their choice.

    Volunteers distributed meals at multiple locations across Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties.

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  • As voters demand affordability, Stanford economist argues for ‘temporary, targeted price controls’ with supply-side reforms | Fortune

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    Price controls are literally a textbook example of a policy that creates market inefficiency, but an economist sees some merit in them as voters delivered victories to Democrats who promised to hold the line on the cost of living.

    Zohran Mamdani, who vowed to freeze rent, won the race for New York mayor, and Mikie Sherrill, who proposed freezing electricity rates, was elected to be New Jersey’s next governor.

    Given the affordability crisis many Americans face, more Democrats will run on price controls too, wrote Stanford economist Neale Mahoney and former White House economic advisor Bharat Ramamurti in a New York Times op-ed on Sunday.

    “This may terrify many economists, who have long dismissed price controls as failed policy. But, like it or not, voters are demanding short-term price relief, and temporary price controls may be the only viable way to provide it,” they said.

    To combat rising costs, standard policy tools often take longer than voters will tolerate or don’t work. For example, tax incentives or deregulation can increase supply but can take years to make an impact on prices.

    In addition, subsidies and tax credits can offer some short-term relief but also eventually push up prices as demand increases faster than supply can catch up.

    Mahoney and Ramamurti also acknowledge that price controls obscure market signals that encourage producers to expand output and lower costs, pointing to President Richard Nixon’s efforts to cap gasoline prices in the 1970s.

    “Yet sharply rising rents and utility bills wreak havoc on family budgets. That’s why there is a case for temporary, targeted price controls that hold down costs, paired with supply-side reforms that encourage new production,” they added, noting that Mamdani and Sherrill have proposed similar ideas.

    For housing, that could mean rent caps on existing units, plus government investment in new housing as well as zoning and permitting reforms.

    To be sure, policies initially billed as temporary often last longer than intended as they inevitably create constituencies that lobby for them to continue.

    Policymakers can use sunset clauses or target price control narrowly to mitigate such risks, according to Mahoney and Ramamurti. But they also admit “we may need to accept some trade-off between immediate relief and weaker long-run investment.”

    “In a cost-of-living crisis, the question isn’t whether to intervene, but how to do so in a way that delivers relief today without creating new problems tomorrow,” they said.

    While the annual rate of consumer inflation has cooled sharply since hitting a high of 9% in 2022, prices are still going up and President Donald Trump’s tariffs are not helping. In fact, headline inflation has remained sticky and ticked higher since he launched his trade war.

    The off-year elections this month that delivered stunning losses to Republicans brought the issue of affordability front and center. 

    Trump has already rolled back some of his signature tariffs to help lower grocery prices, and “there are discussions” on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies as Republicans scramble to address soaring healthcare costs.

    That’s as voters are demanding that overall affordability improve and want to see prices decline, not just rise at a slower pace.

    “People are angry about the loss of affordability, and are inclined to blame incumbent governments for this,” Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, said in a note on Friday. “It is tempting to think of affordability as another version of the ‘cost of living crisis’—but affordability is subtly different, and may linger.”

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    Jason Ma

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  • Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. closes downtown Denver restaurant, gets sued for unpaid rent

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    After 18 years of serving seafood, the kitschy, tourist-friendly Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. across from the Colorado Convention Center is now closed and being sued for back rent.

    The restaurant at 1437 California St. called it quits last week, according to its landlord.

    “Unfortunately, we have permanently closed,” says a sign on the front door, which features its smiling shrimp mascot. “Thank you for allowing us to serve the Denver community.”

    The restaurant chain came to Denver in 2006 and planned to stay awhile: It signed a lease for 20 years and eight months, through January 2027. After a build-out, it opened in 2007.

    The restaurant’s first struggles came in 2016, when construction of two hotels nearby resulted in fewer customers, according to Kent Cherne, whose father purchased 1437 California St. around 1960. Cherne, whose investment firm owns it now, says he lowered rent as a result.

    Cherne also helped the seafood restaurant when the pandemic struck in 2020, when revenue fell in 2024, and when his tenant was struggling again in early 2025, according to a lawsuit that Cherne Investment Co. filed against Bubba Gump and its parent companies Nov. 10.

    “From April through November, Bubba Gump was late each month in paying the amounts it owed, and the payments due on Oct. 1 and Nov. 1 have not been received,” according to the lawsuit, which estimates that Cherne reduced rent by $335,000 over 10 years.

    Cherne’s firm is suing for October and November rents, along with late fees, taxes, interest and unpaid wastewater fees, according to this week’s lawsuit. It does not list dollar figures.

    Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. gets its name from the 1994 film “Forrest Gump,” in which Tom Hanks’ titular character befriends the shrimp-obsessed Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue. After Blue dies in combat in Vietnam, Gump eventually opens Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in his memory.

    In 2010, the real-life Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. was purchased by the Landry’s restaurant group out of Texas. Landry’s owner Tilman Fertitta is currently the U.S. ambassador to Italy.

    “This location was licensed to the Kelly Group, who ultimately closed the location,” Landry’s Chief Operating Officer Scott Marshall said. “There are no plans to reopen that location.”

    The Kelly Group, of California, did not respond to requests for comment. There are now 20 Bubba Gump locations in the United States and 10 more outside the U.S.

    Meanwhile, 1437 California St., which is known for its western-facing murals of Teddy Roosevelt and boxing great Jack Dempsey, is up for sale after 65 years with one family.

    “If my dad was still alive, he would probably still be pretty attached to it, but that’s not the case with me,” Kent Cherne said. “I recognize the challenges in trying to manage it myself and I think it’s just time to let it go to somebody else and move on, try to find another use for it.”

    At 6,250 square feet across two floors and a basement, it is one large restaurant space.

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    Justin Wingerter

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  • Los Angeles Passes Major Rent Control Overhaul

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    The Los Angeles City Council has voted to make major changes to rent control, hoping to make housing more affordable in the city.

    In a historic 12-2 vote on Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council decided to cap annual rent increases. Updating the Rent Stabilization Ordinance formula to set the annual increase of rent to 4% for roughly 650,000 units across the city.

    Previously, the formula to set rent was 60% of the consumer price index, but now it is being increased to 90%. Additionally, the ruling will allow an additional 2% increase for landlords who cover utilities.

    Nithya Raman, chair of the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, ahead of the vote, said, “Extraordinary rent increases are driving people out of the city.”

    The RSO covers apartments built on or before Oct. 1, 1978, and lawmakers have spent months debating how to best alleviate residents from additional rent-related burdens. While also taking into account how to best balance the needs of housing providers.

    Raman said, “What we have before us right now is an opportunity to make L.A. more affordable, because when people can afford to stay in Los Angeles this entire city thrives.”

    Landlords and advocates against the measure say the updated formula will make it more expensive to provide housing.

    To relieve any additional burden to landlords, they are also putting into effect an increase in funding for “Mom and Pop” landlords. Owners with 2-10 units will receive support for repairs and rehabilitation.

    Most Angelenos are renters, and more than half spend more than 30% of their income on paying rent. With 1 in 10 residents using 90% of their income to cover rent.

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    Tara Nguyen

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  • Zohran Mamdani’s signature housing policy is widely loathed by economists. Here’s why | Fortune

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    New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani swept to victory Tuesday evening on a platform of affordability, anchored by a plan to freeze rents across nearly 2 million rent-stabilized apartments. 

    But economists, universally, hate rent control. In a 2012 poll of top economists, just 2% agreed that rent-control laws have had “a positive impact” on the supply and quality of affordable housing. The Nobel laureate Richard Thaler even quipped in the survey that the next question should be: “Does the sun revolve around the Earth?”

    Why do economists revile a plan that seems to promote fairness and equity in a housing market that is clearly broken? 

    Seductive simplicity

    To most voters, freezing rents looks like common sense: If prices are out of reach, stop them from rising. But to economists, that’s like treating a fever by breaking the thermometer: It suppresses the symptom without curing the disease, the persistent shortage of housing.

    “Freezing rents doesn’t fix scarcity,” said David Sims, a Brigham Young University economist whose research on Massachusetts rent control remains a touchstone. “It just reshuffles who bears the cost.”

    Sims’s work examined the rent-control regime that once governed Cambridge, Mass., where tenants could stay indefinitely at below-market rents. The policy was meant to keep housing affordable, but it led to what he calls misallocation. 

    “People who could do better by moving tend to stay,” he told Fortune. “Older households hang on to large units they no longer need, while young families can’t find space. Over time, you end up with the wrong people in the wrong apartments.”

    When Massachusetts voters repealed rent control in 1994, property values in Cambridge rose 45%—not only for the deregulated apartments, but for entire neighborhoods. It turned out that years of capped rents had discouraged investment and dragged down surrounding property values, meaning that when controls were finally removed, landlords were empowered to upgrade and renovate their apartments. Neighborhoods that had been frozen along with the rents suddenly seemed to revitalize.  

    That dynamic is already visible in New York. According to the city’s Housing and Vacancy Survey, roughly 26,000 rent-stabilized apartments are sitting empty, many uninhabitable because renovation costs far exceed what landlords can legally recover. The state’s 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act caps recoverable renovation expenses at $50,000 spread over 15 years. Rehabilitating a century-old tenement can cost twice that, leaving owners little incentive to do anything but lock the door.

    Short-term relief, long-term pain

    Rent control’s immediate benefits, for current residents, are undeniable. It offers stability to tenants living paycheck-to-paycheck and reduces the risk of displacement. But over the long term, economists argue it functions the same way as throwing sand in the gears of the housing market. Landlords defer maintenance they can’t recoup, new construction slows, and the available housing stock quietly erodes.

    A 2018 Stanford study led by Rebecca Diamond, one of today’s leading experts in housing markets, found that when San Francisco expanded rent control in the 1990s, the supply of rental housing fell 15% over the next decade. Many landlords converted apartments to condos or owner-occupied housing to escape regulation. The policy helped existing tenants, but ultimately raised market rents citywide and accelerated gentrification, causing the opposite of what policymakers intended.

    “It’s not about pitying landlords,” Sims said. “It’s about understanding incentives. You can’t expect people to invest in something if they’ll never break even—just like you can’t expect tenants to volunteer to pay more rent.”

    For economists, the deeper problem with rent freezes is conceptual: They imply that affordability can simply be decreed against the logic of supply and demand. 

    “It creates this belief that the problem can be solved by fiat,” Sims said. “But rents are high because people want to live in New York. The only lasting fix is to make it easier to build more housing that people actually want.”

    He offers a visceral analogy of market pressures: Black Friday. People don’t wait in line for stores anymore on Black Friday, Sims said, but there was a time when, for a $1,000 TV at $200, there’d be a line around the block at 4 a.m., and only a few lucky people would get the TV.

    “But housing isn’t like a $200 TV,” Sims observed. “Everyone kind of needs a place to live, but if housing is priced like the $200 TV, then there’s a bunch of people in that line who don’t get it.”

    That’s the thing about rent control, economists say: It benefits insiders at the expense of outsiders. Over time, it can deepen inequality by keeping younger, lower-income, or newly arrived residents locked out of regulated neighborhoods that effectively become closed clubs.

    Band-Aid policy in a broken market

    Supporters of Mamdani’s plan counter that New York’s crisis is so severe, temporary freezes are a moral necessity. 

    With median rents above $4,000, they argue, the city cannot wait for zoning reforms and construction projects that take years to materialize. But even sympathetic economists warn that without parallel measures to boost supply, a freeze simply defers the reckoning.

    “If you don’t pair a rent freeze with a credible plan to add housing,” Sims said, “you’re not solving the problem. You’re just pushing off accountability without really solving the underlying problem.”

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    Eva Roytburg

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  • Gen Z housing hacks for the return-to-office era – MoneySense

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    Even as the Bank of Canada’s rate cuts make headlines, affordability challenges continue to squeeze Gen Z and younger millennials from both sides: rising rents and record-high housing costs.

    “The return-to-office push has really redefined what ‘affordable’ means,” says Rishard Rameez, CEO and co-founder of Zown, a buyer-first real estate platform designed to help renters transition into ownership “faster, and with a lot less stress.”

    Zown’s model is built for transparency, combining salaried realtors, trusted lenders, and instant pre-approvals. “Our goal is to put buyers first, not the system, by giving them more transparency, more support, and even up to 1.5% of the home purchase price back at closing,” Rameez explains. “So far, we’ve supported over $300 million in transactions and helped thousands of Canadians take that next step into homeownership with confidence.”

    The return-to-office squeeze

    As more companies call employees back into the office, whether hybrid or full-time, young renters are being forced to rethink how—and where—they live. “A lot of young renters who moved to smaller cities during the pandemic are now faced with either long commutes or higher rents if they want to be closer to work,” says Rameez. “Many are choosing smaller spaces downtown, splitting rent with friends, or even taking on micro-apartments to cut travel time.”

    The financial strain of this shift goes beyond rent alone. “People are factoring in the total cost, not just rent, but transit, groceries, and time, and trying to find a balance between affordability and quality of life.”

    Those unable to pay downtown prices are commuting longer distances to get to and from work each day. “We’re seeing a growing number of renters priced out of downtown who are now choosing longer commutes instead,” he says. “Many young professionals who work in the city are coming in from places like Hamilton, Kitchener, and even Niagara. They’re spending hours each day commuting—time that could otherwise be spent with family or on personal pursuits.”

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    Despite the grind, many find the math still adds up. “For those who drive, the cost of parking and gas still often works out cheaper than renting downtown, which shows just how unaffordable the [Toronto] core has become.”

    According to Rameez, this isn’t just an economic shift—it’s psychological. “People want flexibility, not just geography. During the pandemic, many prioritized space; now, they’re prioritizing access.”

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    Housing affordability’s double burden

    Even with the central bank easing rates, “affordability is still constrained by limited supply and high demand,” Rameez says. “The problem is structural; we simply don’t have enough homes being built fast enough. When rates fall, demand jumps back up almost instantly, pushing prices higher again.”

    And for renters, “The effect is even more muted because rent prices aren’t tied directly to borrowing costs. What we’re seeing is people earning the same but paying more for everything: housing, food, and transportation, which leaves very little room to save.”

    That squeeze has created what Rameez calls a “double burden”—the simultaneous pressure to keep up with rent and save for a down payment on a home. “There’s a recent report showing that nearly half of young Canadians are now spending more than 50% of their income on rent, which leaves very little room to save for a down payment or build an emergency cushion,” he says. “They’re caught in a loop where rent keeps rising faster than wages, so even the most disciplined savers feel like they’re standing still.”

    To make matters worse, “Many homeowners 55 and up are choosing not to downsize because they either can’t find suitable alternatives or don’t want to give up their low mortgage rates,” he adds. “That’s keeping much-needed housing stock off the market and making it even harder for younger buyers to find entry points.”

    Still, Rameez sees opportunity in the cracks. “We’re seeing a lot of renters now debating whether it makes more sense to own, particularly because condo prices have softened. In some cases, the cost to own is only a few hundred dollars more than renting, which is making buyers take a closer look.” He notes that Zown has seen “a 15–20% increase in interest from first-time buyers in the downtown condo segment, something we haven’t seen in quite some time.”

    Related reading: Mortgage guide for Gen Z: The true costs of home ownership for young Canadians

    Creative housing hacks are on the rise

    For those still renting, flexibility and creativity have become survival tools. “Co-living is definitely back, but it looks different now, furnished, managed, and community-driven,” says Rameez. “We’re also seeing flexible lease models where people can move between cities or properties within a network. It’s ideal for younger professionals who want stability without being locked in.”

    Compact living is also on the rise. “Micro-apartments and modular housing are also gaining traction in urban centers,” he adds. “It’s about efficiency, using space smarter, not necessarily smaller.”

    Multi-generational living, once considered a last resort, has quietly gone mainstream. “A few years ago, living with parents was often seen as a fallback; now, it’s a financial strategy,” says Rameez. “It allows younger Canadians to save, pay off debt, or build their down payment faster.”

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    Alicia Tyler

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  • It’s a good time to be a renter in Denver right now

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    Business

    Building boom left a lot of space to fill, and landlords are looking to make deals.

    An “Apartment for Rent” sign in the window of a building in Denver’s Speer neighborhood. April 27, 2023.

    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

    Denver landlords are making deals to entice renters to move into empty apartments.

    Incentives, such as free rent, are at a 15-year high, according to a new report from the Apartment Association of Metro Denver. Landlords are trying to fill units after a building boom in recent years left a glut of space to fill.

    “It’s good news for (soon-to-be renters) to see so many opportunities. Several communities are offering great discounts, including a few weeks of free rent on top of falling rates,” Mark Williams, executive vice president of Denver’s apartment association, said in a statement accompanying the report. “It’s truly the best time for new renters to move into an apartment.”

    The effective rent, which is the rate people are paying after concessions are baked in, averaged $1,709 per month during the third quarter, according to the report. That compares to $1,874 per month two years ago. Average rents started falling at the end of last year, the association’s data show. They are now the lowest they’ve been in more than three years.

    Boulder and Broomfield counties have the lowest vacancy rate in the region at 5.1 percent. Arapahoe County, with a 7.4 percent vacancy rate, has the highest.

    Construction of new apartment buildings has slowed way down from the peak in mid-2023. That should lead to fewer empty apartments becoming available, which will eventually lead to rents stabilizing, according to the report.

    The metro area vacancy rate is already down a little bit from earlier this year. 

     “As vacancy continues to fall, it appears the peak has been reached,” Scott Rathbun, a researcher with Apartment Insights who authored the report, said in the statement. 

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  • Would Zohran Mamdani’s Rent Freeze Keep Rent-Stabilized Apartments Empty?

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    The previous tenant paid nine hundred and three dollars a month. (A steal!) On the free market, the unit could fetch three thousand, easy. (Lee said he had to call it a “de-facto” two-bed, because legally, a living room has to have windows.) But he estimated that it would cost him a hundred and twenty thousand dollars to make the place livable, and, under the current rent-stabilization laws, the most he could charge would be twelve hundred a month—which he said just about covers the operating cost of the apartment but not the renovations.

    We continued the tour. “I’ll probably get rid of this,” Lee said, waving at the paint around some windows, “because this is all lead.” Given how much lead he was pointing out, I asked Lee if it was safe for us to even be there. “That’s a good question,” he said. “I think it’s O.K. It’s not really chipped off or anything like that.” He peered at a wall. “I don’t know if you have an actual monitor to see if there’s any dust?” he asked. I told him I didn’t. “This is par for the course for Chinatown tenement buildings,” he said. “There are some buildings that have the toilet in the hallway.” I asked him about the children’s scooter on the ground. “I don’t know how that got there,” he said.

    Under current laws, landlords can raise the rent if they make improvements to a vacant apartment, but the amount is capped at fifty thousand dollars, spread out over fifteen years. (Before 2019, a landlord could charge a twenty-per-cent vacancy rise when a tenant moved out, and there was no fifty-thousand-dollar cap.) When I asked Lee why he hadn’t renovated the apartment earlier, he said that it was because of the previous tenant. “You have to put them up—if you take them out to renovate,” he said. But the apartment had now been vacant for three years. Why was it still unrenovated and unrentable? “There’s no incentive economically,” he said. “You lose money.”

    Approximately a million apartments in New York are rent-regulated, and living in one is sort of the dream. The rules are often arcane and not necessarily understood by the people who live in these places. (One renter in Harlem recently discovered, after twenty years of paying market rents, that his apartment was rent-stabilized.)

    There are two kinds of rent-regulated apartments: rent-controlled and rent-stabilized. The popular conception of a rent-regulated apartment—a walkup in Manhattan, somehow still leasing at decades-old prices—is most likely a rent-controlled one. (On “Sex and the City,” Carrie Bradshaw’s fictional one-bedroom is seven hundred and fifty dollars a month and rent-controlled; in “And Just Like That . . .” the new tenant puts in a dividing wall so she can split it with a roommate.) But rent control was phased out in 1971, and now there are only twenty-four thousand rent-controlled apartments in the city. (These units can be passed down to family members, but generally when a rent-controlled tenant moves out, the apartment becomes rent-stabilized or hits the free market.) Meanwhile, there are 996,600 rent-stabilized apartments, whose rents are dictated by the nine-person Rent Guidelines Board. Under de Blasio, rents were frozen three times, and no single-year increase was above 1.5 per cent; under Adams, they rose 3.25 per cent in 2022, three per cent in 2023, 2.75 per cent in 2024, and will rise three per cent again this year.

    Lee’s building has eight apartments that more or less tell the story of rent regulation across the years. One is rent-stabilized but vacant; six are rent-stabilized and occupied; and one, on the second floor, is market rate. That apartment, he told me, used to look like his vacant one—tub in the kitchen, lead in the walls. In 2017, Lee spent more than a hundred thousand dollars to renovate it, which allowed him, under previous laws, to destabilize it. It’s now renting out for thirty-five hundred dollars a month, as a two-bed, to a couple of Wall Street guys who moved from California. (“Very reasonable for Manhattan,” Lee said.) His other rent-stabilized apartments, which are similar in size, go for around a thousand dollars or less. He’s done some minor renovations—“I put the shower, the bathroom, and sink together, nothing dramatic”—but decided to keep them rent-stabilized. Lee opposes Mamdani and the proposed rent freeze, but he said he doesn’t oppose rent-stabilization over all. He was born in New York and grew up in the Two Bridges neighborhood. He told me, “I wanted to keep a lot of the Chinatown tenants, the working families, here.”

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    Naaman Zhou

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  • How your rent payments can help build your credit history – MoneySense

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    Rent reporting can help boosts credit scores

    “Your rent is your biggest monthly obligation for debt payments so it’s unfair that it’s not counted towards building your credit,” said Viler Lika, founder and CEO of rental services company SingleKey. 

    Companies like SingleKey, Zenbase, Borrowell, and FrontLobby offer such rent-reporting services, with varying fees and requirements. SingleKey works with landlords and property managers across Canada and screens more than 15,000 rental applications every month. Landlords pay a $30 fee for a tenant screening report, and renters pay $8 per month to report their rent payments on the SingleKey platform.

    “This is a very powerful tool for graduating towards home ownership as a renter because you’re demonstrating to the lender that you have the ability to pay a large amount,” Lika said. 

    The platform accommodates pauses in rent reporting too—when you might move back in with your parents, for example—without harming your credit. 

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    Rent reporting isn’t risk-free

    Lika believes rent reporting will make housing more accessible for renters while also reducing tenant delinquency risk for landlords. However, Alex Leduc, CEO and principal broker of Toronto-based mortgage brokerage firm Perch, cautions that such disclosure can come with its own set of concerns. “If [you] stop reporting, it would be a red flag to lenders and they would dig deeper,” he said. “And if [you] keep reporting and arrears show on [your] credit report, then [your] credit score would likely go down as a result.”

    Leduc advises against opting into a rent-reporting program if you anticipate missing a payment or even paying a few days late. “Otherwise, you’re just shining a light on a poor repayment history that would’ve potentially gone unnoticed,” he said.

    However, Leduc believes rent reporting can be beneficial especially for longtime renters, new immigrants, or aspiring homebuyers with little or no credit history. “Not having a credit score is a massive impediment to getting credit at all,” Leduc said. “When you’re trying to get a mortgage, you’re ultimately asking a lender to give you hundreds of thousands of dollars … They want to know you’ve managed credit successfully before.”

    He said there are three key components to preparing a mortgage application: credit score, down payment, and income. And while a down payment can often be resolved—by receiving gifted funds from family, for example—having poor credit can be a “deal breaker.”

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    Understanding credit ratings and scores

    Money Mentors CEO Stacy Yanchuk Oleksy said credit ratings and credit scores are often misunderstood.

    A credit rating is given for each of your credit products. It’s based on a scale of one to nine, with one being the best (meaning you’re at least making minimum payments on your credit card, for example). As you miss payments, you go up the scale. A credit rating of nine would indicate a debt in collection or even bankruptcy.

    All of this information contributes to your credit score—a three-digit number from 300 to 900 that’s used as a predictor of how likely you are to pay back your debts. The higher the score, the more “credit worthy” you are.

    Oleksy ,who is also a certified credit counsellor, said there are often misconceptions about what builds and harms your credit score. Being granted a high credit limit on your credit card, for example—even if you pay it off in full every month—can actually be disadvantageous, she said. “When your credit score is calculated, it looks at all that available credit and says that’s debt because [theoretically] you could go out to town tomorrow [and spend it].”

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    About The Canadian Press


    About The Canadian Press

    The Canadian Press is Canada’s trusted news source and leader in providing real-time stories. We give Canadians an authentic, unbiased source, driven by truth, accuracy and timeliness.

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  • Is it better to rent or own in California? That depends.

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    The debate over renting vs. owning has long posed a challenge for households in California. Arguments have morphed in recent years as home prices and mortgage rates soared beyond the increasing rents. To illustrate the complexities, we’ve created a hypothetical rent vs. buy scenario to track housing finances over a 30-year period. However, the math doesn’t account for the intangibles: the flexibility of renting compared to the stability of owning.

    HOW MONTHLY COSTS COMPARE

    Key in any housing calculation is monthly cost. Our example estimates California house rent today at $4,000 a month vs. buying a $900,000 house with a 10% down mortgage at 6.5% plus property taxes, insurance, association fees, and repairs. The scenario assumes costs grow with historical inflation and the mortgage rate is lowered twice by a half-point through refinancing.

     

    RUNNING THE TAB

    Homeowners need to repay their mortgage plus cover a range of additional costs. So renting’s total costs run cheaper for nearly two decades. But owning ends up costing slightly less over time. Here’s cumulative costs by year, in thousands of dollars.

    THE BOUNTY: Ownership’s edge

    Owning’s true financial benefit arises from the increasing value of the home. Assuming historical gains of 5% per year, the owners gets a $3.8 million asset after 30 years. The renter, who hypothetically invested the $90,000 down payment in the stock market, would accumulate $929,000. Here’s investment value by year, in thousands of dollars.

    WHERE IT GOES

    Look at the slices of 30 years of housing expenditures, rent vs. own. The renter just pays the landlord. Owner costs go to principal and interest on the mortgage, property taxes, home insurance, association fees, and repair and maintenance costs. Note: Interest payments and property taxes can be tax deductible.

    A HISTORY LESSON

    Look at the past 30 years of historical returns for three key factors in this rent vs. buy calculation, using 10-year moving averages for rent (California Consumer Price Indexes); home values (federal California index) and stocks (Standard & Poor’s 500).

    Unfathomable, unaffordable

    California’s long-running and steep affordability crunch makes the rent vs. buy debate a moot argument for many people. Housing costs throttle numerous California family budgets. The state’s flock of high- paying jobs pushes up housing costs well past what more typical paychecks can easily afford. That’s true for households considering renting or buying.

    Stagnant ownership

    Stubbornly high ownership costs have kept California’s share of people living in homes they own relatively stable, except for a temporary surge in the early 2000s when mortgages were too easily obtained. Those risky loans played a key role in the Great Recession, as borrowers defaulted in huge numbers.

    Housing afforability index

    It’s tough to be a California homebuyer. The estimated number of Californians earning the statewide median income who could comfortably purchase a single-family home is falling sharply, according to a California Association of Realtors index. The Golden State share of qualified buyers is significantly below the national norm.

    Housing-cost stresses

    The 2024 edition of Census housing data details how California’s cost of shelter varies between renters and homeowners — with or without mortgages on the property.

    But because renters typically earn less than owners, it’s more likely that their housing costs exceed 50% of their household incomes, an extreme level of financial stress.

    Big housing worries

    A statewide survey last year asked “How often do you worry about the cost of housing for you and your family?” Those who said “every day” or “almost every day” …

     

     

     

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    Jeff Goertzen1, Jonathan Lansner

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  • Price Tracker: See grocery, housing and gas prices

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    These days, it feels like everything costs more: groceries, housing, rent, gas. Now, you can track how prices are changing in your community.

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    WTVD

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