Rental prices soar across Maritimes

As rent prices soar across most of the Maritimes, Candice Hebert considers herself luckier than most.

“I have to live with a family member to be able to afford it,” she said. “It’s not just me and my children because it’s so expensive. So it takes a village right now to raise your family and to live comfortably.”

Hebert has been renting in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, for the last four years and while she says her rent hasn’t increased exponentially, she’s still seen first hand how much rent has climbed.

Even with help, the seemingly constant rise in rents paints a grim picture.

“Life is just so expensive,” she said. “Especially for, even full homes, not just single parents. I know full families that both parents are working and they’re barely getting by.

“It’s so sad and we have kids and they’re going to grow up and our kids are going to have to deal with this, like we need to solve it now so that it doesn’t pass onto our children.”

Statistics Canada released new numbers this week that highlight just how much costs have increased.

In Nova Scotia, rent increased 14.6 per cent from October 2022 to October 2023.

In New Brunswick, renters saw a jump of nine per cent during the same time period.

Only P.E.I. saw a small break, with a decrease of 0.4 per cent from October to October.

“If you look on the rental sites, if you just browse through them, you will find no apartments, especially in Fredericton, that’s probably now going for no lower than $1,200 and I’m talking just a single room apartment,” said Nichola Taylor, chair of New Brunswick ACORN.

She adds that people looking for anything more than that will see much higher prices.

ACORN says it’s time for action and they’re still fighting for a rent cap to be put back in place across the province.

“It’s not hard for the government to do, it’s cost effective and we saw when there was a rent cap in place last year at 3.8 per cent, landlords were still making money on that so they can still make money with a rent cap in place and of course it’s a massive safety net for tenants,” said Taylor.

The hope is to see a rent cap of two per cent, but she says even 3.8 per cent, which was in place before, would make a big difference.

“We’ve spoken to many people who have told us, ‘One more rent increase, we are facing homelessness,’ and we’ve even spoken to people who’ve been made homeless because they’ve either been reno-victed or because they have had rent increases that they can’t afford and they cannot find anywhere else that’s suitable for them,” she said.

“We’re already at that situation and it’s only going to get a whole lot worse if the government doesn’t put suitable policy in place that helps tenants out.”

On Tuesday, Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland allocated billions of dollars to address the rental market, but the majority of the money is earmarked for 2025 and beyond.

“I’ve heard that we have the highest rent amongst Canada and it’s insane. It really is. It’s scary, you don’t know if it’s going to keep going up,” said Hebert. “I do know a lot of friends that are searching for places and they can’t find anything within their budget because everything is so expensive.”

ACORN says we need to see more social housing, co-ops and subsidized housing to address the current situation.

“A whole lot more needs to be done and this government is simply not doing that,” said Taylor. “All levels of government need to be helping here. So it’s not just about what the provincial government can do, it’s also about what the federal government can do.”

For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.