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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 1984
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NOT TIME TO EASE RENT CONTROL: FR. MCGOVERN
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IT WAS NOT THE TIME TO EASE RENT CONTROL WHEN THE SUPPLY OF HOUSING WAS FAR SHORT OF BOTH THE DEMAND AND THE NEED, THE REV. THE HON. PATRICK MCGOVERN, SAID TODAY.
OPPOSING THE LANDLORD AND TENANT (CONSOLIDATION) (AMENDMENT) BILL 1984, AT THE RESUMED DEBATE IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, FR. MCGOVERN SAID THAT IN SPITE OF SPECTACULAR ACHIEVEMENTS IN PUBLIC HOUSING, THERE WERE STILL HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE UNABLE TO RENT OR BUY A DWELLING AT A PRICE THEY COULD AFFORD.
+WHILE THIS REMAINS SO, AND FOR OTHER REASONS WHICH I HAVE GIVEN REPEATEDLY SINCE 1977, AND WHICH IN MY JUDGEMENT ARE STILL VAL ID, BUT WHICH I WILL NOT REPEAT TODAY, I INTEND TO AGAIN VOTE AGAINST THIS BILL AS I HAVE DONE AGAINST FOUR OF ITS PREDECESSORS, + HE SAID.
THE BILL, FR. MCGOVERN SAID, CONTAINED SOME GOOD POINTS, ESPECIALLY THE CONTINUATION OF SOME RENT CONTROL OVER SOME PROPERTY. BUT PART II WAS WRONG IN PRINCIPLE IN THAT IT FURTHER EASED THE WAY FOR AN INCREASE IN RENT TOWARDS THE STILL UNFAIR MARKET RENT', WHEN WHAT THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF VIRTUALLY HOMELESS PEOPLE NEEDED WAS A DECREASE IN RENTS TO A LEVEL THEY COULD AFFORD.
+AT A TIME LIKE THIS WHEN THE SUPPLY IS FAR SHORT OF BOTH THE DEMAND AND THE NEED, IT IS NOT THE TIME TO EASE CONTROL. I WILL NOT GO OVER ALL THAT GROUND AGAIN, HE SAID.
IN WHAT HE DESCRIBED AS A BRIEF WORD OF WARNING+, FR. MCGOVERN SAID. IF, AS SOME PEOPLE HOPE, AS A RESULT OF THE GREATER AVAILABILITY OF LAND, AND THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE MOST RECENT RECESSION, THE PROPERTY MARKET AGAIN PICKS UP, THE INCREASES IN RENT ALLOWED TODAY ARE SUCH THAT THEY COULD BECOME EXCESSIVE IF OR WHEN RENTS GO NOTABLY UP AGAIN.
+ REMIND YOU OF THE CONCESSIONS TO LANDLORDS IN THE BILL OF JUNE 1977. AT THE TIME THEY SEEMED SMALL, YET BY DECEMBER OF THAT SAME YEAR GOVERNMENT HAD TO PROPOSE A BLANKET RENT CONTROL ON ALL POSTWAR PREMISES.
+SOMETHING SIMILAR COULD HAPPEN AGAIN. +
FR MCGOVERN SAID THAT SPECULATORS WERE A HARDY LOT AND HAD PROVED BEFORE THAT THEY COULD MAKE A QUICK RECOVERY AT THE SIGHT OF THE POSSIBLE CURE OF ANOTHER QUICK BUCK.+
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