Ontario rent freeze expires on Jan. 1
This crosses my mind a lot. Not just in the context of the rent freeze, but in a general sense.
The pandemic is clearly not over. Yes, we’re in a different place than we were a year ago before we had vaccines, but aside from feeling a bit safer being out and about, how different is it, really? Everyone is suddenly losing their minds over a new variant…again. This has officials telling us “psssst, don’t get too excited about Christmas, my friend”…again. There’s talk of strained hospital capacity…again. Business reopenings are being slowed down or paused…again. The testing requirements at the borders that just started easing are tightening…again. The travel industry doesn’t know what to expect…again.
All of this to say that to a normal person, this seems like a poor time to be winding down relief measures like rent freezes. People are still struggling. That’s not changing. If this comes as a shock to you, pull your head out and look about. I understand the wishful thinking we’re all taking part in and that government and industry would really like to stop dishing out money to help us all in our time of need and get back to the usual business of funneling it to friends and others useful to them, but we’re not there yet, no matter how much we want to believe otherwise. We shouldn’t even think of ending individual and business supports until we can safely declare that we truly are done with this COVID shit, no takebacks. Anything else is just plain irresponsible.