The report based on New Brunswick’s 90-day rental review fell short in addressing the housing crisis, according to tenants’ rights advocates.
Premier Blaine Higgs announced that a review would be conducted during the State of the Province Address in February. This came just one day after the New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants Rights and the Human Development Council wrote a letter to the provincial government demanding changes for the worsening housing conditions.
Three months later, the coalition is disappointed to see that none of their recommendations are included in the report. Despite asking for a 2% cap on rent increases, and a moratorium on evictions until the province returns to the green phase, the report lacks any solutions for pandemic-related housing issues.
“We’re absolutely disappointed that some of the most urgent demands we had that would meet the needs of tenants we’re not included,” said Aditya Rao, a member of the NB Coalition for Tenants Rights.
Rao is pleased that the review gave tenants the ability to highlight their own renting horror stories. However, the coalition strongly disagrees with the findings that New Brunswick is not experiencing a housing crisis, given the tales of extremely high rent increases, unreasonable evictions and evictions of entire communities from one building.
“These stories are all stemming from the fact that tenants in New Brunswick have far fewer protections than tenants almost anywhere else in the country,” he said.
One of the few bright spots according to Rao, is the recommendation that a review of the New Brunswick Residential Tenancies Act is conducted.
“What we need immediately is a new act that protects tenants meaningfully and pursues a human rights framework by which to enable those protections,” he said, “We’re going to keep an eye on the recommendation for sure. We are skeptical that the government will move on it.”
The chance for a review that could include conversational text and limit the frequency of rent increases was applauded by members of ACORN New Brunswick, a group that advocates for low-to-moderate-income individuals.
“It’s written in political law language so you would have to be a legal lawyer to understand a lot of it,” said Doug Forbes of ACORN.
Forbes noted that the report successfully outlined the concerns of both tenants and landlords but still left much to be desired. The member of ACORN’s Moncton Chapter says he won’t hold his breath waiting for rent caps -Premier Higgs has stated several times that he disagrees with rent caps- but believes new measures are needed urgently.
Both Rao and Forbes believe that the release of the report is only the beginning of addressing New Brunswick’s housing issues. They are confident that ACORN and the Coalition for Tenants’ Rights are prepared to keep the pressure on the Higgs Government.
“The fact that the review even happened is a testament that this pressure has been working,” said Rao.
