An advocacy group representing low-to-moderate income earners wants the Higgs government to put more protections in place for tenants including rent control.
ACORN New Brunswick spokesperson Sarah Lunney calls skyrocketing rents profiteering for landlords at the expense of vulnerable tenants.
“Their incomes shouldn’t be the wealth of these landlords who then live in their suburban big houses and drive their luxurious cars while we struggle to afford food and medication and to stay housed. It’s absurd.”
Lunney says better protection is also needed for tenants who face what’s called ‘reno-viction’.
“People are being evicted on the basis of landlords wanting to renovate their buildings.”
In a report called ‘Renters at Risk’, ACORN uncovered that housing in New Brunswick is precariously unstable due to a lack of eviction protections.
An informal survey conducted by ACORN found that a staggering 43.4% of tenants fear eviction when making maintenance requests, and a whopping 52% have moved at least twice in the last five years.
Lunney says the provincial Residential Tenancies Act also needs a formal review.
Although the province has made legislative changes, Lunney says rents are still going up and an additional 30 days to contest a hike won’t make the increase go away.
“Rents are rising faster in New Brunswick than anywhere in Canada. More and more we see financialized landlords and management companies buying up rental properties and treating hard-working tenants as investment savings accounts. The Higgs government must implement tenant protections to bring them up to date to the realities facing tenants in 2022,” notes Lunney.
ACORN is encouraging its members and other supporters to contact their MLA’s and demand change.
