New Brunswick tenants are looking for the government’s aid in assuring all renters have rights.
The New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants Rights sent a letter to Premier Blaine Higgs and Service New Brunswick Minister Mary Wilson outlining the issues that tenants and anyone who receives a low-income face.
Signed by over 30 community organizations, the letter recommends a 2% cap on rental increases for existing tenants, a moratorium on evictions, a rent bank, a New Brunswick Affordable Housing Commission and a roll-out of the Canada–New Brunswick Housing Benefit.
Implementing these recommendations would benefit the 36% of New Brunswickers that live in unaffordable housing. This includes anyone spending over 30% of their income on rent and utilities.
Rises in rent have outpaced the increase of income for tenants by over three per cent, yet Premier Higgs has been reluctant to implement steps to offset this despite the pandemic.
“Premier Higgs says he needs “to understand the facts” before considering rent control. The fact is that New Brunswickers are being forced out of their homes by out of control rent increases during a pandemic,” says Angus Fletcher of NB Coalition for Tenants Rights
Tenants currently lack any protection against rent increases or evictions leaving the province exposed to a chance for a rise in homelessness during unprecedented times.
The coalition is asking for the recommendations to be put in place immediately.
