'We're several years deep in a housing crisis': Housing, rent control a Nova Scotia election issue
With a low vacancy rate and skyrocketing prices, many Nova Scotians are struggling to find a place to live and pay their rent.
Affordable housing and rent control will likely play a role when voters head to the ballot box next month.
"We're several years deep into a housing crisis, especially here in Halifax,” says Mark Culligan, a community legal worker.
Temporary rent control was brought in last fall amid the pandemic, but there’s concern about what could happen if it’s lifted.
"What we foresee, if the rental increase cap is lifted, is a rental shock,” says Culligan.
“Bad landlords, pandemic profiteers will raise rents to whatever rates they can command in the market, and right now, tenants have very little consumer power to contest those high rents."
Advocates say there isn’t enough affordable housing and want to see rent control stick around.
"We definitely need permanent rent control in Nova Scotia," says Aidan Tompkins with non-profit group ACORN.
"About two years ago, I received a rent increase that was for 29 per cent, which is egregious."
NDP leader Gary Burrill spent Tuesday morning talking about the skyrocketing cost of rent and how an NDP government would help.
"As a matter of top priority, an NDP government will move with immediate dispatch to implement permanent rent control across Nova Scotia,” says Burrill.
PC leader Tim Houston says the answer to the housing crisis is more housing stock, not rent control.
"We need to make sure we work with not-for-profits and developers alike to incentivize them and help them build more housing stock. That's the answer to the housing crisis, not reducing the rents," says Houston.
Liberal leader Iain Rankin also believes supply is an issue when it comes to housing.
“We have exploding population and we have a supply issue, so we need to grow supply. It’s not the solution like the NDP say it is," says Rankin.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.