news // no. 4

Annual rent
increase percentage
released for 2019

» Still no word on the rent rebate
promised by NDP government

Katie Czenczek
News Editor

f youre currently a tenant, you are not
going to like this.

On September 8—a Friday, the weekly
dumping day of political bad news—the
BC government announced that next year’s
allowable rent increase will be 4.5 percent,
making this the highest increase since
2004. In order for this raise to come into
effect, landlords must give their tenants a
full three months’ notice prior to asking for
more money.

According to the Ministry of Housing’s
website, rent has gone up more than 30
percent in the last 10 years. With the
current increase alone, it will bean 8.5
percent jump in two years.

The BC government set up a Rental
Housing Task Force led by Spencer
Chandra Herbert, MLA in the West
End, in April of this year. The task force
was in charge of consulting tenants,
landlords, and tenancy advocacy centres
all across the province to come up witha
recommendation for renting legislation.

Andrew Sakamoto, the Executive
Director of the Tenant Resource & Advisory
Centre (TRAC), said in a phone interview
with the Other Press that the change will
be difficult for many tenants to swing.

“T think that it’s going to be a struggle
for a lot of tenants, to be honest,” he said.
“Rent increases are far outpacing wage
increases for many tenants. Too many
tenants across the province are paying an
unhealthy amount of money on rent.”

The average cost for a two-bedroom
home in Vancouver is $1,552 per month,
according to the Canada Mortgage and
Housing Corporation’s 2017 report. If
landlords choose to raise rent in 2019, the
total rent would go up by $69.84, making
the average monthly rent $1621.84.

TRAC was one of the advocacy groups
consulted by the Task Force in early July.
Sakamoto said that they recommended a
temporary rent freeze, along with cutting
the guaranteed two percent landlords get
on top of inflation.

“Every year, landlords are allowed to
raise rent a certain amount, but it’s not
only based on inflation,” he said. “They
also get a guaranteed two percent increase

theotherpress.ca

PREVIOUS MAXIMUM RENT INCREASES

So

Maximum allowable rent increase

  

each year. What we proposed was first off,
a temporary rent freeze for three years, to
be followed by an amendment of the rent
increase formula to eliminate that two
percent that landlords get each year.”

The reason TRAC recommended a
temporary rent freeze was to counteract
the loophole landlords took advantage of
in previous years. Previously, landlords
could get around yearly caps by signing six-
month contracts with vacate clauses, said
Sakamoto.

“What [vacate clauses] allowed
landlords to do is that after six months,
they could kick out that tenant, bring
someone new in, and jack up the rent
to whatever they wanted,” he said. “Or,
they could go to that existing tenant,
give them the option to stay in the rental
unit, but they would have to sign a new

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2012

  

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Chart via Province of British Columbia

contact with new terms, with rent at any
amount. That led to rentals all across the
province to be artificially inflated. It was a
way to circumvent the rent control in the
Residential Tenancy Act?

Although Sakamoto was disappointed
in the announcement for 2019, he said that
there’s still hope for legislation to address
the rental housing crisis.

“We're very pleased that the
government mostly closed that loophole
now, but we're still feeling the effects of
that. Despite all of the disappointment
around this 4.5 rental increase among
tenants, we're still hopeful that this task
force will lead to positive change in the area
of tenancies. But in terms of protecting
tenants in general—next year.”

Doug Ford infringing on the ‘Rights
and Freedoms’ of Ontarians

» The debate over Ontario Premier’s plans enters a new round

Naomi Ambrose
Contributor

he battle between Ontario Premier
Doug Ford and Superior Court Justice
Edward Belobaba has intensified.

Superior Court Justice Belobaba ruled
that Ford’s plan to reduce the current 47
wards in Toronto to 25 wards—a plan that
is more formally known as Bill 5 or The
Better Local Government Act—infringes
upon the “freedom of expression” aspect
of the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms for voters and candidates. This
infringement is pertinent—especially
considering the fact that the act emerges in
the middle of Toronto's election campaign.
The city’s vote is scheduled for October 22
this year.

Ina document obtained via the
Ontario Superior Court of Justice website,
Judge Belobaba stated that the Act
“substantially interfered with both the
candidate’s and the voter’s right to freedom
of expression as guaranteed under section
2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms.’ Belobaba said that a drastic
reduction of the number of wards reduces
fair representation for the large number of
voters in Toronto.

With regards to the candidates’
infringement of their freedom of
expression, Judge Belobaba wrote that

“candidates spent more time on doorsteps
addressing the confusing state of affairs
with potential voters than discussing
relevant political issues. The candidates’
efforts to convey their political message
about the issues in their particular ward
were severely frustrated and disrupted.”

Judge Belobaba also elaborated about
this unprecedented situation.

“Never before has a Canadian
government meddled with democracy like
the Province of Ontario did when, without
notice, it fundamentally altered the City
of Toronto’s governance structure in the
middle of the City’s election,” he wrote.

Ina press release from the Office of
the Ontario Premier, Ford announced that
his government will immediately appeal
Judge Belobaba’s decision to the Ontario
Court of Appeal.

“T believe this decision is deeply
concerning and wrong,” said Ford.

In addition to the appeal, several
news reports have stated that Ford
intends to use the notwithstanding clause
of the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms to disregard the Judge's decision.
The notwithstanding clause allows the
government to make laws that violate the
Charter.

Ford’s reported decision to invoke the
notwithstanding clause has been met with
fierce opposition. In a press release issued

by the Ontario NDP, Andrea Horwath, the
Leader of the Official Opposition, called
Ford’s plan to “invoke the notwithstanding
clause and suspend part of the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms for

 

cC

Ontarians an unprecedented abuse of
power.”

Photo of Doug Ford via Wikimedia Commons

Never before has a Canadian government meddled
with democracy like the
Province of Ontario did...”

Superior Court Justice
Edward Belobaba