Calgary tenant union calls on province to ease renters’ burdens
Posted Sep 9, 2022 11:54 am.
Last Updated Sep 9, 2022 11:58 am.
It’s a growing problem in Calgary, some renters are unable to find a unit that’s within their budget.
The Calgary chapter of the tenant union ACORN is calling for rent control and other protections aimed at addressing the issue.
Fable Dowling, spokesperson for ACORN, says the Province needs to step in.
“More and more everyday Albertans are struggling to keep up with rising rent prices, which are rising faster than our pay cheques are,” Dowling said. “People are falling through the cracks.”
Dowling is calling on the government to do better.
“Housing is a basic human right. But unfortunately in practice, that’s not really the case in Alberta where it’s being treated like a commodity,” Dowling explained.
“This is unacceptable, which is why ACORN is calling on the province of Alberta to enact rent control and tenant protections now.”
Jordie Hoffman, spokesperson for ACORN, says the union hopes to make rising rental costs a key issue in the upcoming provincial election.
“This includes an annual rent increases being capped at 2 per cent and a rental registry comprised of rental prices of every rental unit in the province tracked on a registry in order to get a fuller understanding of where, how, and if rents are rising to unaffordable levels. Using this data from the registry to create informed affordable policies and regulations in the future.”
Multiple Canadian provinces have rent control, including British Columbia and Ontario, however, Premier Jason Kenney is against the idea.
“When you have heavy handed rent control, what happens is landlords don’t — first of all, companies don’t invest in building new housing stock, and the crisis we have right across the country is housing affordability,” Kenney said. “So, we don’t want to disincentivize investment in new housing stock.”
Michael Walters with ACORN says he expected rental prices to rise as he got older, but he didn’t expect them to get to extreme levels.
“The first solution I would hope to see is to have a cap on rent increases and also the frequency of rent increases,” Walters said. “Right now, there’s no cap listed at all on the increases, and there’s no maximum for affordable housing either.”
According to a report from Rentals.ca, average rent across the country increased by 10.4 per cent year over year. Calgary prices for a one-bedroom unit are listed at almost triple the national average — up by 27.1 per cent in the same timespan.
