We're not villains: landlords

Sort of begs the question: What is a villain?

I am a renter. My assets amount to my car and my computer. My net income is about $1,900 per month. Rent is about $1,050. That leaves $850 for gas, utilities, cable/internet, and food for myself and my kids. Probably a lot better than many. Still, it is hard to make the ends meet.

That said. The market rate for what I've got now is about $200 more. If I had to move right now, my post rent income would be reduced by about 25%. Within my community, I don't have a lot of options. Three of my boys live with their moms full time. One of my boys lives with me full time. Moving away from where I live would be a hardship for all of them.

Crowley, who has been in Edmonton's apartment business for 30 years, said building owners didn't get any help in the 1980s when they were burdened with huge vacancy rates.

The 1980's were marked in Alberta by the National Energy Policy. Everybody had a hard time then. It must have been hard on Sonny Crowley, senior vice-president of NewWest Enterprise Property Group and a past president of the Edmonton Apartment Association, to have endured that difficult period of Alberta history with the benefit of real-estate assets such as apartment complexes. I'm sure there are a great many Albertans that are thankful not to have his burden.

I do not have his burden. Instead I'm looking at accelerating rental costs without the burden of real assets. I expect most renters are like me. We don't have any fat to get us through the lean. Ironic to hear landlords moan about the 80's. Did they worry about if they would have a roof over their heads? That's what I worry about when the Boardwalk Rental Communities throw large figures for legal fees and then actually, arbitrarily, charge me $50 for a letter.

Landlords crying woe when what they seek is to maximize profits (wring the blood out of the market) regardless of the social costs are villains. The victims of their villainy are the ones least able to find recourse.