HALIFAX -- Dozens of people rallied in downtown Halifax on Saturday, calling for the government to do something about the low vacancy rates and skyrocketing rent around Nova Scotia.
“What are we going to do if people actually can’t afford a place to live? I mean, are we going to start having tent cities here,” said Joyclin Coates who attended the rally.
The rally was hosted by Acorn, an independent organization and tenants union of low and moderate income people fighting for affordable housing.
They say housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable across the province and are calling on the Nova Scotia government to enact rent control.
“A lot of people are losing their apartment. We call it ‘Renovictions’,” said Fabian Donovan, a rally participant. “Being kicked out so the landlord can renovate the apartment and charge 3 of 4 times the rent for it. Also, people are getting rent increases of like $600 a month.”
Christina Henneberry is a single mother who attended the rally on Saturday. She says it’s becoming very difficult to make ends meet each month.
“It’s really hard to afford clothes and food for our children with the rent increasing every year,” said Henneberry. “My rent has gone up by $150 every year and I just feel like all the landlords are trying to force us out of our homes when we’re trying our best to get by, pay bills, and feed our children.”
Many say finding an affordable place to live is almost impossible these days.
“I have a family, a young family and we’ve been struggling to find a place,” said Trevor Batson, a supporter of the cause. “We lucked out and managed to find a place recently but we’ve been spending the past several months, since February, trying to find a place. The rents just kept going up and up and way out of our price range.”
“You see buildings going up but they’re like $1,500 a month for a lot of them, or $2,000 a month for a two bedroom apartment. Who could afford that?” said Coates.
Nova Scotia hasn’t had rent control since the early 1990s. It’s something the NDP has been pushing for.
“Unlike many problems that we face in the world, this is a problem that has a solution,” said Nova Scotia NDP leader Gary Burrill. “That is to tie rent increases to the cost of living, to regulate it, so that the market is not the only thing that has an influence on determining what rents are going to be.”
Burrill says rent control is in place in many other provinces across Canada, and is overdue for Nova Scotia.
