NEW RENTERS SLAMMED

As a mother of two young people who are renters in Halifax, I am appalled at the situation renters are facing. In a city with relatively few high-paying jobs, rents are being raised drastically.

I was shocked to find that landlords can raise rents any amount when a lease is terminated and new renters come into the same apartment. When rent controls were announced last November, I was relieved. The legislation covered people already in apartments, limiting increases to two per cent, and it ensured that renters entering a new lease would not be facing much higher jumps in rents being asked for the same apartments.

Amazingly, two days after the announcement, the government quietly removed the protection for new renters on Nov. 27. I do not remember any attention being drawn to that, and I check the news every day.

In some cases, landlords are raising rents by 30 per cent to 46 per cent, with little to no improvement to the units. I realize that costs have risen, but not by that percentage! The secrecy surrounding the regulation change seems deliberate.

It is not just low-wage earners, students and people on social assistance who are affected by such rampant inflation. People helping their children through university are finding housing costs a huge expense. Retired people on fixed incomes, with modest pensions or savings, are also affected. People with better-paying jobs hoping to buy a home eventually will be unable to save much toward that goal. Many people will be confined to a lifetime of renting, contributing to landlords’ rental income rather than building equity in their own homes.

This election is a chance for renters, and their families and friends, to make their voices heard.

Ruth Faulkner, Truro