The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released an update to its Supply Gaps Estimate report of last year. The report estimates how many new homes need to be built in Canada by 2030 to restore housing affordability to 2004 levels. Last year, CMHC estimated that 3.5 million homes will still be needed, over and above what is already projected to be built by 2030. In its update, CMHC found that the gap this year is still 3.5 million homes.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a series of measures to increase the supply of rental housing and tackle inflation on food prices. A core measure proposed is the removal of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on new rental construction. Bill C-56, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act and the Competition Act, was tabled by the Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland and passed its first reading at Parliament on September 21. The bill increases the GST rental rebate from 36% to 100% to incentivize the construction of apartment buildings, student housing and senior residences. According to the Department of Finance Canada, this will provide homebuilders with a $25,000 tax relief on apartments valued at $500,000, and the initiative is expected to cost $4.5 billion between now and 2029. The rebate will be available to buildings with at least 4 apartments or 10 private rooms, as long as at least 90% of the units are used for long-term rental. The federal government has called on all provincial governments to apply the exemption to the provincial portion of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST).
On September 13, London, Ontario became the first municipality to secure $74 million from the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund, to speed up the development of 2,000 housing units over the next three years, on top of the 9,000 already planned. The funding is flexible, and London’s mayor indicated it might be used for increasing water and sewage capacity, incentivizing private landowners to convert office space into residences, create low barrier service hubs, and build 600 supportive housing units.
The agreement is the first of many that require municipalities to end exclusionary zoning in order to receive the funds. At the end of August, the City of London voted to increase density in residential areas without the need for re-zoning, and similar conditions were laid out in letters sent by the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities to the cities of Calgary, Brampton, and Halifax. Applications are being reviewed for Windsor and Saskatoon.
New land-use regulations voted at Halifax Regional Council in February came into effect on September 1st. In residential zones, single room and entire unit short-term rentals are now only permitted if the owner lives in the home. Basement apartments and backyard suites may not be rented for fewer than 28 days. The objective of these regulations is to allow for more rental accommodation in the Halifax market.
On September 21, the City of Toronto shared a progress report regarding its housing action plan. The implementation of the HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan has so far allowed the completion of 1,082 affordable and supportive homes for those experiencing homelessness and expediting approvals for 3,340 new homes. Furthermore, the City has committed $46 million in funding through the Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition (MURA) program, to help non-profit organizations acquire and secure 260 affordable rental homes. Other progress includes the administration of 3,300 housing benefits to help individuals maintain their current homes and the launching of new digital dashboards to help track accountability and transparency.
According to a recent report from Quebec’s Health Department, visible homelessness increased by 44% across the province between 2018 and 2022. The survey counted close to 10,000 people living on the streets or in shelters, half of which were in Montreal. However, the report also finds that the proportion of people experiencing homelessness in Montreal is in decline, and the increase in homelessness felt across the province is happening around secondary cities and in rural areas. While the report does not account for hidden homelessness, it recognizes that its incidence might be higher than visible homelessness. During the Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ) Summit on Homelessness, the Minister of Social Services Lionel Carmant announced that a new homelessness count would take place in 2024 and promised an additional $15 million to fund emergency shelters. Quebec Mayor Bruno Marchand, along with Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante and several community organizations, stated that this pledge was not enough to address the homelessness crisis happening in Quebec.
Manitobans will be heading to the polls on October 3rd for the province’s general election, and affordable housing remains a top issue for 20% of voters.
The NDP’s pledge for housing in Manitoba includes bringing the renters’ tax credit from $525 to $700, limiting landlord’s ability to apply for above-guideline rent increases, and developing a regulatory process to ensure affordability is maintained when a non-profit or co-operative tries to sell buildings that were designed to be affordable housing. Meanwhile, the PC’s housing platform focuses on removing land transfer taxes for first-time homeowners, helping senior homeowners defer their property taxes and investing in housing developments for homeless veterans.
Between September 14-16, the City of Calgary held public hearings and debated on the recommendations issued in June by the Housing and Affordability Task Force. More than 150 people signed up to depute at City Council, and a majority of written submissions urged the municipal government to adopt all of the Task Force’s recommendations. One of the more controversial recommendations is a proposal for blanket rezoning citywide to create more density and housing diversity. Pressure mounted after the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser sent a letter to the City of Calgary, requesting the adoption of the proposed new zoning designations in order for the City to receive funding from the Housing Accelerator Fund. Evidence from the City’s 2023 Housing Needs Assessment was also echoed during the deliberations, citing how the housing crisis is affecting a wide range of Calgarians, with 1 in 5 households who cannot afford their housing costs. At the conclusion of the 3-day meeting, Council voted 12-3 for the adoption of the City’s new housing strategy, “Home is Here.” The strategy aims to build 4,000 new homes every year, of which 75% would be non-market affordable housing units. In addition to zoning changes that remain to be discussed later this year, the amended strategy proposes to increase affordable supply through incentives for the development of secondary suites and transferring publicly-owned land for non-profit housing and emergency shelters.
During a news conference on September 11, B.C. Premier David Eby unveiled details of the province’s Secondary Suite Incentive Program, voted in the 2023 budget. This initiative aims to finance the construction of 3,000 secondary suites through forgivable loans of up to $40,000 to cover 50% of construction costs. Rent for these secondary suites must be priced below market rates for five years, and secondary units cannot be rented to immediate family members. However, the $120 million incentive program is geared toward higher income homeowners, with stipulations such as providing enough equity as loan security, property value worth more than $2 million, and household income of over $209,000.
At the same news conference, the province’s Premier also announced the launch of the Single Housing Application Service (SHAS), a one-stop shop to expedite housing permit applications and eliminate the need for multiple applications across different ministries. The SHAS will be administered through staff of the Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, who will act as a single point of contact for permitting decisions. The province has also promised $61 million in funding to help municipalities accelerate development application approvals and meet the new provincial zoning requirements to be revealed later this fall.
On September 7, Victoria City Council voted to allocate $2.5 million from revenues collected through taxation on online short-term rental platforms, such as Airbnb, to fund an affordable workforce housing project destined to house hospitality workers. The project will be developed by the Greater Victoria Housing Society for a total of $18 million, most of which will be funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Other municipalities in B.C. have implemented similar measures to preserve their rental housing stock against the conversion of apartments into tourist accommodation. A study from McGill University shows that short-term rentals eat up 19% of the available rental housing stock in the province and contribute to a 16% increase in rent prices. Fairbnb is calling for stronger legislation on short-term rentals, to ensure they remain a form of home-sharing and proposes to establish a province-wide registry to ensure transparency and accountability.
There are many reasons that housing has become unaffordable across Canada, and financialization is one of them. Most housing stock in Canada has always been a commodity that is bought and sold and has market value. However, until relatively recently, governments routinely intervened in the housing market to maintain some measure of affordability for Canadians.
Government retreat from housing oversight and regulation in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s has opened the door to financialization, laying the groundwork for the skyrocketing cost of housing that Canada has witnessed particularly over the past decade.
These days, financialization is widely pointed to as a key driver of Canada’s housing affordability crisis. In this article, we aim to demystify financialization by outlining some of its key characteristics, how it has developed over the past several decades, and its impact on housing affordability in Canada.
Financialization is a complex and abstract concept, and in order to understand it, it’s helpful to explore what it looks like. Three of its key characteristics are:
More housing stock is owned by investment and trading companies such as real estate investment trusts (REITs), private equity funds, asset management companies, and pension funds. An example of this is international corporations whose business models rely on buying “distressed assets” (often older apartment buildings built in the 1970s and 80s), and renovating them. Their explicit goal is to increase revenue by upgrading buildings and then raising rents, allowing them to provide higher financial returns to their shareholders. Canada’s largest financial firms alone now own 20% to 30% of Canada’s purpose-built rental housing stock.
Housing is understood by the public to be a smart investment vehicle (a way to extract profit from the market as rapidly as possible) and a way to grow wealth. It is favoured over many other forms of investment because of its high returns on investment. Large financial actors like REITs and corporations, but also small businesses and individual homeowners, are increasingly purchasing homes to rent out at the highest price possible. An example of this is increased speculation in the housing market by both large actors and individual “house flippers.”
Many investment portfolios widely offered to the public include residential real estate as an investment option.
The above are expressions of the financialization of housing within the Canadian economy. The conditions that allowed for an increasingly financialized housing market in Canada have been made possible by government policies introduced over roughly the past forty years.
Towards a financialized housing market in the 1970s, 80s and 90s
Opening up new opportunities for investors
In the 1970s and 80s, governments introduced new regulatory systems which allowed investors to invest in areas that had previously been considered non-financial sectors, including housing. Investment and trading companies were allowed to access more capital (wealth used for investment), take on more investment risk and mortgage debt, and create new financial products. In the 1990s, REITs were created to allow investors to jointly purchase shares in real estate.
The weakening of rent regulation
In the late 1970s, many provinces introduced laws regulating the rents that landlords could charge, to prevent rent gouging and keep rents at reasonable levels. These laws generally allowed landlords to increase rents to account for inflation and operating cost increases, but not to excessively inflate their profits.
However, these laws were significantly weakened during the 1980s and 90s. Provinces introduced more and more exceptions to the rules, for example by allowing certain types of rental units – like high-end rental units, newer rental units, and units experiencing turnover – to be exempt from laws that place limits on rent increases.
Rent regulation is an important way that housing remains affordable over time. Inadequate rent regulation allows widespread rent gouging, which happens when landlords charge rents that are far higher than what is necessary to run a profitable business. Charging high rents and finding ways to increase them perpetually is how financialized landlords extract the high profits that their shareholders and business partners are expecting.
Renters often earn lower incomes than homeowners, and the practice of rent gouging forces lower-income households to pay higher percentages of their incomes to investors and corporations. This leads to a transfer of wealth upwards which increases income inequality.
Government retreat from investment and oversight of housing
Historically, governments in Canada acknowledged that the private market would not and could not produce housing that would be affordable to Canadians of all income levels. Acknowledging their obligation to ensure housing for everyone, for many years the federal and provincial governments were active in supporting and regulating housing systems in Canada to ensure everyone could afford a home.
Up until the 1980s, the federal and many provincial governments funded a variety programs and projects that supported the development of affordable housing. Government interventions included subsidies and tax breaks for companies that developed and managed affordable housing such as co-operatives, non-profit and social housing providers. From the 1940s to 70s, governments invested directly in the development of publicly owned (or social) housing and routinely provided tax incentives and exemptions to developers who created purpose-built rental housing. However, beginning in the 1980s, both orders of government progressively retreated from these important interventions in housing, and since then, Canadian governments have relied almost exclusively on the private market to meet Canadians’ diverse housing needs. This retreat from supporting Canada’s housing systems has directly contributed to the current affordability crisis and growing homelessness since the 1980s.
Consequences of the financialization of housing in the 2000s, 10s and 20s
Loss of affordable housing stock
The number of housing units that are affordable to Canadian households is rapidly dwindling. Homes that used to have affordable rents have been subject to excessive rent increases in recent years due to rent gouging, which has been permitted by lack of rent regulation and competition due to a low stock of affordable housing. At the same time, existing affordable units are being systematically demolished and redeveloped by investors who see an opportunity to profit from charging higher rents in new developments. Still other former homes are being converted to even more lucrative businesses, such as AirBNB short-term rentals. Some formerly affordable rental units are even allowed to sit empty by investors speculating on the market.
Lack of new affordable housing
In recent years, various governments have introduced policies and funds they hope will encourage private developers to build more housing. While efforts to increase Canada’s housing supply are very important, new housing built by private developers tends to be built for investors; it is often not large enough to accommodate families, and more importantly, it is simply not affordable for most Canadian households. And research indicates that for every new affordable unit created, 15 existing affordable homes are lost to redevelopment and rent gouging.
Importantly, the long-standing lack of government support and investment has led to a very stark shortage of deeply affordable housing that is affordable to Canada’s lowest income households who are the most vulnerable to homelessness. It is important for governments to acknowledge that this housing will never be produced by the private market.
Increased rates of displacement, eviction and homelessness
In today’s housing landscape, where rents and the cost of living have skyrocketed, more and more families and individuals are losing their homes due to rent increases that they simply cannot afford. Many households are struggling to get by, which is reflected in increased use of services like food banks since the pandemic.
Others are losing their homes to investors whose business plans rely on regular rent increases facilitated by unit turnovers. Investors can evict tenants in a variety of ways, including by renovating a unit or claiming to need it for their or their family’s own use. These types of evictions have become so common in recent years that the term “renoviction” has come into common usage. Some investor landlords refer to these strategic unit turnovers explicitly in their business plans.
When rents increase in certain communities, those communities become inaccessible for lower income households. This process is sometimes called “gentrification.” As housing prices increase, communities that had previously lived in certain neighbourhoods are gradually pushed out, often into areas that are far away and have lower quality services and opportunities. As a result, a type of income-based segregation is perpetuated.
Poorly maintained housing
In addition to rent gouging, investors can also realize excessive profits by reducing services in buildings. Renters often report that buildings are not being adequately maintained, leading to substandard living conditions. Poor maintenance is particularly prominent in buildings that investors intend to redevelop, and deteriorating conditions can be used as an incentive to force renters to give up and leave, and to make the case that the building requires such substantial repairs that current residents must move out, or the building must be demolished.
Disproportionate impact on historically marginalized groups
Members of historically marginalized and equity-deserving groups are disproportionately lower-income than the general population, and more likely to live in inadequate and unaffordable housing. By relying on the private market to solve a problem that it is not designed to solve, governments are not respecting the right to housing of historically marginalized groups including Black, Indigenous and racialized communities, people with disabilities, seniors and youth among other groups.
The path forward
With the passage of the National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA) in 2019, for the first time in nearly half a century, the federal government re-acknowledged the important role it must play in housing. Crucially, the NHSA affirmed the federal government’s commitment to advancing the right to housing for everyone in Canada. The NHSA acknowledged that Canadians’ right to secure housing must be prioritized over other concerns, including those of real estate investors. This was a significant step in the right direction, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure this commitment translates into effective actions, programs and policies that will address housing affordability and mitigate the impacts of financialization in Canada. Federal, provincial, and municipal governments all have important roles to play to restore housing affordability and ensure everyone in Canada has a secure home.
Can eviction be treated as a last resort in Manitoba?
Eviction has a devastating impact on renter households and should only ever be used as a last resort. Proportionality in eviction is a legal framework, required under international law, for ensuring that eviction will only be carried out when it is absolutely necessary and there is no reasonable alternative. Unfortunately, Canada has not fully implemented a proportionality framework, and renter households continue to be evicted unnecessarily in every province and territory.
Some provinces and territories have partially implemented a proportionality framework, by giving courts and tribunals the authority to choose alternatives to eviction. In Manitoba, when a landlord has a complaint about a problem in a tenancy, such as unpaid rent or allegations about a tenant’s behaviour, they can apply to a tribunal called the Residential Tenancies Branch (RTB). A Residential Tenancies Officer hears from the landlord and the tenant and makes a decision about how to resolve the complaint. If the complaint is upheld, the law gives the Officer broad powers to make various orders to resolve the issue.
The role of conditional orders as an alternative to eviction
One of the resolutions available to the RTB is an order to evict a tenant, but other resolutions are also available. In particular, the RTB can make a “conditional order” requiring the tenant to resolve an issue. In this case, the tenant will only be evicted if they do not do what they were ordered to do. For example, a tenant who owes rent can be ordered to pay it back on a repayment plan. A tenant who has been the subject of noise complaints can be ordered to make less noise. These are conditional orders to resolve an issue.
Conditional orders are an essential part of the proportionality framework because they prevent unnecessary evictions where problems can be solved by other means. It is a strength of Manitoba law that RTB Officers are allowed to make these orders as an alternative to eviction.
Is eviction being treated as a last resort in Manitoba?
The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) analyzed the RTB’s decisions and tabulated conditional orders by year. Up until 2007, the Manitoba RTB routinely considered conditional orders as alternatives to eviction. For example, if a renter owed rent, the RTB would consider whether to give them an opportunity to avoid eviction through a repayment plan, by considering factors including:
The reasons the renter had fallen behind, such as illness, reduction in work hours, or administrative errors.
Whether the renter’s repayment plan was realistic based on their income.
Whether the renter had made some payments when they were able to do so.
The amount of rent they owed.
Whether the landlord’s conduct had contributed to the problem.
The hardship that eviction would cause the renter and their family.
Although the RTB did not allow conditional orders in every case, it routinely considered doing so and gave written reasons for its decision. It often found conditional orders to be fair resolutions.
In some cases, landlords agreed to conditional orders. However, when landlords did not agree, the RTB was still willing to make conditional orders when, after considering the landlord’s and tenant’s arguments, it concluded that it would be fair to do so. These are sometimes called “contested conditional orders.”
However, the RTB’s use of conditional orders dropped dramatically between 2007 to 2010. From 2010 to the present, the RTB has made almost no conditional orders. This has severe implications for housing security and human rights. It means that renters are being evicted unnecessarily, when their housing could have been saved through conditional orders.
Graph 1: A record of conditional orders made by the Residential Tenancies Branch in Manitoba, from 1999 to 2022. Source: CCHR, 2023.
Furthermore, the RTB no longer appears to even consider making conditional orders. The written reasons given for most of its decisions no longer consider whether a conditional order would be appropriate, or even acknowledge the possibility of one. In other words, eviction in Manitoba is not being treated as a last resort.
The solution – how to treat eviction as a last resort in Manitoba
Everyone has a role to play in ensuring that eviction is a last resort:
The RTB can train its Officers to consider conditional orders as an alternative to eviction in every case, and to only order eviction as a last resort if they conclude that a conditional order would not be reasonable.
The Manitoba government can amend Manitoba’s Residential Tenancies Act to explicitly direct Officers to treat eviction as a last resort in every case.
The federal government can work with the provinces to insist that Canada meet its commitments to treat housing as a human right under international law.
All levels of government can implement programs and funding to support renters in paying rent and resolving problems to stabilize tenancies.
Landlords can explore solutions with renters and agree to reasonable solutions.
Renters can work to resolve tenancy issues and share with their landlord and the RTB Officer assigned to their case what they are doing to make their tenancies work.
The Office of the Federal Housing Advocate released their annual report to the federal Housing Minister, outlining findings from submissions they received from 2022 to 2023 through their online public submission process that allows people from across Canada to report directly to the Advocate about systemic issues related to inadequate housing and homelessness. The report outlines systemic housing issues related to affordability, rising rents, the difficulty people face in securing housing, the lack of suitable housing options and the long waitlists to access deeply affordable housing. Submissions were made by people living on lower incomes, people with disabilities, women and gender-diverse people, many of whom shared their experiences with facing increasing barriers and discrimination. The Federal Housing Advocate provides recommendations for governments to urgently address these systemic housing issues and work towards solutions that implement the right to housing for all.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) released a study that found there is a significant gap between rental prices and what minimum wage workers can afford across Canada. Even in the provinces with the highest minimum wage such as British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta, there is a significant gap between what minimum-wage workers earn and how much they have to pay for rent on average. The report shows that the gap is even greater for people in receipt of social assistance, many of whom are forced to live in the private market rentals due to the limited social housing options available and long waitlists. The report recommends immediate solutions such as raising the minimum wage while also financing, building and acquiring purpose-built and social housing. The report also urges governments to regulate the rental market with stronger tenant protections and rent control.
Premiers from across Canada gathered in mid-July for a three-day meeting in Winnipeg where affordability was one of the main topics of discussion. The Premier of British Columbia spoke about the need for affordable housing while the Premiers of Nunavut and Ontario called for more federal support for the construction of housing and addressing the housing crisis.
One of the most pressing issues at the premiers’ meeting in Winnipeg was the long waiting lists for subsidized housing across the country. Reports show that as of 2021, more than 227,000 households were on the waiting list for social housing across the provinces. The length of time people must wait depends on where they live, with households having to wait for up to fourteen years for a one-bedroom unit in Toronto. The limited availability of deeply affordable housing options requires urgent response by our federal and provincial governments to repair and build more social housing across Canada.
Dozens of refugees were forced to camp out on the sidewalk outside a shelter intake office in Toronto after they were told that the shelters were at capacity, and that they should seek help from federal programs. The group spent weeks sleeping outside the office and being shuttled to a church north of the city to spend some nights. Following community mobilization and advocacy that resulted in public outcry, the federal government has announced that it will be providing an additional $210 million to fund interim housing for asylum seekers. About $97 million will be going to the City of Toronto. Toronto’s newly elected Mayor Olivia Chow welcomed the new federal funding but urged all levels of government to come together to find sustainable long-term funding solutions for cities in Canada that are welcoming refugees and asylum seekers who are in need of urgent housing supports.
The Government of New Brunswick is proposing a new inclusionary zoning (IZ) regulation that would allow local governments to adopt a bylaw that requires developers to provide a certain percentage of new multi-unit developments as affordable housing. The proposed regulation is a response to the challenges people are facing in finding affordable and adequate housing. The proposed regulation will establish the frameworks for municipal governments choosing to adopt an IZ bylaw. Submissions are open and encouraged on the draft regulation.
According to several experts, the homelessness rates in Newfoundland and Labrador are not being accurately tracked. Given the lack of a central intake and tracking system used by organizations serving the unhoused population, only a snapshot of the experiences of homelessness is being captured in the province. Only some service providers capture data and share this information while point-in-time counts do not account for people experiencing hidden homelessness who may stay with friends and couch surf. Experts point out that these limitations are creating an urban bias in the province that discount those experiencing homelessness in rural areas who may not have the same access to shelters or services as those living in large urban centers. By establishing coordinated access and data sharing, and expanding the ways in which the experiences of homelessness are captured, governments are able to better allocate resources and funding to adequately address and end homelessness.
A recent change to a program that helps low-income Nova Scotians pay for rental housing has many housing advocates concerned. The Canada-Nova Scotia Target Housing Benefit is a joint provincial-federal program that provides monthly funding to qualifying low-income renters or homeowners. It has been used to provide a two-month subsidy that people experiencing homelessness could apply to while in search of a rental unit. The subsidy helped applicants to assess what rent they could afford, pay for a damage deposit or cover the cost of moving. But the province recently changed the rules which require rental applicants to secure a lease first before being eligible to receive the subsidy. Housing advocates are worried that the change will greatly impact those it is meant to support, who will now have a more difficult time securing rental units in a tight rental market.
Toronto’s first Deputy Ombudsman for Housing, Reema Patel, was announced this month, a new role established to investigate systemic housing issues and monitor the planning and delivery of Toronto’s housing services and programs. They will also engage with individuals and communities facing housing precarity and other adequacy challenges to advance fairness in housing access and program delivery.
The mayors of 14 Quebec municipalities have published an open letter demanding that the government establish a mandatory public rent registry to help ease the affordable housing crisis. They also denounced part of the Quebec government’s recently tabled housing legislation, Bill 31, which would prevent tenants from transferring their leases, which is one of the few tools that tenants could use to preserve affordable housing and rents. The open letter identifies the importance of a public rent registry which would allow all parties to learn about current rent prices, what a tenant paid before, and support dispute resolutions around excessive rent increases.
The federal government has committed to investing $300 million to build affordable housing in Quebec as the province deals with a housing shortage. As part of the Rapid Housing Initiative, the federal and provincial governments have agreed to build 1,600 social and affordable units with the new investment being dedicated to vulnerable groups, like women and children fleeing domestic violence, people with disabilities, and those experiencing homelessness. After moving day on July 1, many families are still looking for a place to live in the province. Housing group FRAPRU said that 500 families across Quebec did not have a lease after July 1, and that this number is likely much higher. Although FRAPRU welcomes the investment, they are calling for 10,000 units to be built for five consecutive years in Quebec to address the housing shortage.
The province has approved an investment of $25 million into five initiatives to modernize the government’s emergency response and shelter system, and provide more supportive and affordable housing. The funds will be used to allow better access to shelters, increase co-ordination within provincial departments and improve co-operation among all levels of government and community organizations. The funding will be divided between operating shelters, developing new community-based social housing units through rent supplement agreements, expanding existing supports and developing new Housing First teams, developing 212 new units, and supplementing interest free loans to 13 non-profit and co-operative organizations.
The problem
Evictions are an unfortunate reality in Canada. Nearly one out of 10 Canadian households (7%) report that they have been evicted at some point in their lives. Provincial laws use evictions to address a wide range of issues, such as financial difficulties leading to unpaid rent, disputes between neighbours, safety concerns, owners’ changing plans, and more. Undeniably, these issues need to be addressed. However, eviction is a blunt instrument which has devasting impacts on renter households. It should only ever be used as a last resort.
In Canada, evictions are not always a last resort. Eviction laws in Canada do not adequately address alternatives to eviction. Instead, laws frequently treat eviction as the only solution available to address tenancy issues. To take just a few real-life examples of how alternatives to evictions are not systematically pursued:
In Manitoba, a tenant is evicted because she owes $450 in rent – even though she can pay the full amount by the next day.1
In Newfoundland, a tenant is evicted even though he can afford his rent because, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he paid half of his rent at the start of each month and half in the middle of the month.
In Prince Edward Island, a tenant asks for a chance to pay her rent arrears to avoid eviction. The Director of Residential Rental Property refuses to even consider the request before ordering the eviction.
In Yukon, a landlord is unable to prove that their tenant has done anything to warrant eviction – but eviction is ordered anyway.
In Quebec, a tenant is evicted because they owe $2.
In each of these cases, and countless others, a renter lost their home unnecessarily because the law did not require that the adjudicator consider any alternative to eviction.
In order to pursue eviction as a last resort, proportionality can be used as an assessment tool.
Defining proportionality
Proportionality is a legal framework for deciding whether an eviction is necessary. Under a proportionality framework, a household can only be evicted if all of the following are true:
The eviction must have a legitimate objective.
Eviction must be necessary to achieve the objective, and there must be no reasonable alternative.
The consequences of eviction must be proportionate to the objective.
The proportionality framework requires that an adjudicator consider all the circumstances of the case, and only order eviction if they are satisfied that all three of the above conditions have been met. The adjudicator must consider the interests of both the tenant and the landlord, but must come to their own objective conclusion as to whether eviction is really necessary.
The proportionality framework was originally developed by the European Court of Human Rights.2 Council of Europe member states are required to incorporate the framework into their eviction laws. A household facing eviction in Europe can appeal to the Court of Human Rights if the proportionality of the eviction is not properly considered.
The proportionality framework has also been adopted by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which uses it to determine whether evictions around the world are compliant with the right to housing under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).3 Almost every country in the world, including Canada, has ratified the ICESCR. Hence, countries which carry out evictions without a proportionality assessment are in contravention of their obligations under the ICESCR. Unfortunately, there is no legal mechanism to force Canada and other non-compliant countries to meet their obligations.
Proportionality in Canadian law
Eviction laws are different in every province and territory. In Ontario, Saskatchewan,4 Quebec,5 and Northwest Territories, legislation explicitly allows adjudicators the discretion to consider alternatives to eviction. Court and tribunal decisions have confirmed that adjudicators also have that discretion in Alberta,6 New Brunswick,7 and Manitoba,8 and in some cases in Yukon.9 The law gives adjudicators little to no discretion in British Columbia. The law is unclear in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland,10 Nunavut,11 and Prince Edward Island.12
This means that in some parts of Canada, but not others, adjudicators have the authority to avoid unnecessary evictions by considering reasonable alternatives. This is an important policy which makes a real difference in the lives of countless renter households.
However, no Canadian law requires that adjudicators follow a proportionality framework in eviction decisions. Hence, while adjudicators are often allowed to choose alternatives to eviction, they are not required to refuse eviction in cases where reasonable alternatives are available. In every part of Canada, renter households continue to be evicted unnecessarily.
The solution – how to implement proportionality in Canada
Proportionality in eviction is an important legal framework to ensure that eviction is always treated as a last resort. Provinces and territories can implement the framework by:
Amending their residential tenancies laws to ensure that adjudicators have the authority to choose alternatives to eviction.
Amending their residential tenancies laws to direct that adjudicators must choose alternatives to eviction, except in cases where eviction is the only reasonable solution.
Training adjudicators to treat eviction as a last resort.
Ensuring that tenants have full, fair access to legal advice and to tribunal proceedings so that they can participate in eviction decisions.
Proportionality as a tool to respond to Canada’s affordability crisis
The proportionality framework is an important tool for preventing unnecessary evictions. However, it cannot solve the housing crisis or fully protect households from eviction by itself. That is because it does not address the underlying causes of problems that lead to eviction.
For example, if a household falls behind on their rent, the proportionality framework can protect them from eviction by giving them the opportunity to pay back the rent on a repayment plan. However, this will not be enough if the rent is no longer affordable because of inadequate rent regulation that leads to unaffordable rent increases.
Governments must ensure that renters not only have access to affordable homes but are also able to maintain their tenancy. It is important that our governments implement eviction prevention policies like the proportionality framework to stabilize housing and reduce housing precarity. However, proportionality is not a silver bullet and the road to housing security for renters across Canada will also require governments to implement policies that address the root causes of our housing affordability crisis.
1 Manitoba Residential Tenancies Branch (RTB), ORDER NO: 2002W3538 & 2002W3539 (2002) (Unpublished decision available from the RTB through a subscription service).
10 The Newfoundland Residential Tenancies Office does not appear to have ever considered that it could have the discretion to make an order other than eviction.
11 The Nunavut Residential Tenancies Office does not publish its decisions, and the Nunavut courts have not considered the question of discretion in eviction decisions.
12 A new Residential Tenancy Act was proclaimed in PEI in April, 2023. It has not yet been interpreted by the courts and tribunals.
The Canadian Housing Statistics Program has analyzed new data which shows that a majority of condominiums used for investment purposes in British Columbia and Ontario are owned by businesses or individuals who hold at least three properties. This trend is concentrated in smaller cities where properties remain cheaper. For example, in Ontario, over 80 percent of investment properties in Windsor, London and Belleville are owned by larger investors. The findings help fill a significant data gap in understanding the role of investors and the extent to which they are driving up demand and influencing escalating house prices in the country.
Re/Max, a major real estate brokerage released a report advocating for 15-minute neighbourhoods, a concept that has traditionally been championed by planners where housing is made available close to work, amenities and other daily necessities. The report focuses on solutions for smaller municipalities where populations are growing rapidly, calling for a greater mix of market and non-market housing options to cater to diverse housing needs.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has added two new indicators to better understand Canada’s rental housing market. The first indicator measures the share of units that are affordable for the lowest income group of renters. It shows that with the exception of Quebec City and Montreal, less than five percent of rental housing options are affordable for the bottom 20 percent of Canada’s income earners. In Vancouver and cities across Ontario, almost no lower-income households have access to affordable housing.
The second indicator distinguishes between average rents for units that were rented in the last 12 months and the average rent of those units that have been occupied for more than a year. This measure helps paint a picture of the kind of rental market that renters are entering when looking for a new place. The difference between the two measures is especially large in major population centres, cities with low vacancy rates as well as those jurisdictions with rent increases subject to guidelines. For example, Toronto and Vancouver, where all the above conditions apply, the difference is about $500. Notably, Calgary and Edmonton, where no rent regulations exist, the difference between the average rents of newer and older units is $50.
Housing advocates are calling for more attention and action around rental housing ahead of the Council of the Federation’s meeting in July. CCHR’s Bahar Shadpour commented on the need for better rental protections and that all levels of government have to work collaboratively to solve the crisis. She also advocated for basic legal protections for tenants across the country. Other recommendations include developing rental registries to offer a degree of transparency in the housing market, and potentially giving prospective tenants a better picture of previous rents before they decide to move into a new place. Council chair and Manitoba premier, Heather Stefanson, noted that premiers are working to address housing affordability challenges, but she did not say whether rental prices will be a focus of discussion during the upcoming meeting.
After decades of disinvestment in public housing, calls are growing for the provincial government in Nova Scotia to once again play a more proactive role in creating affordable housing options for lower income households as the number of people experiencing homelessness and those living in core housing need is increasing while the wait for a public housing unit grows. However, the provincial government notes that Nova Scotia still has some of the highest concentrations of public housing options in the country and that it is focused on improving the quality and living conditions of its existing public housing stock. This focus follows an audit that found many of the public housing buildings are poorly managed.
Barrie’s City Council unanimously voted to refer back to staff a pair of bylaws that were intended to prohibit charitable organizations from distributing food and water to unhoused people on public properties. After receiving significant community pushback, including over 20,000 emails sent to Councillors, the Council backtracked on its proposed bylaw as many argued that it would violate unhoused people’s individual rights and liberties.
On June 26, Toronto elected Olivia Chow as its new mayor in a by-election. The new mayor will have to lead the city in solving its housing affordability crisis and address the growing issue of homelessness and housing precarity. As part of her goal of addressing homelessness and housing affordability, Chow has promised several notable commitments including opening up more 24/7 respite sites for people experiencing homelessness, creating 3,000 rental supplements with the help of the federal and provincial governments, and raising the Municipal Land Transfer Tax on luxury homes as part of some of the enhanced revenue tools to fund affordable housing initiatives.
The Quebec government tabled Bill 31, which would make it easier for landlords to refuse a tenant’s request to assign his or her lease amongst many other proposed changes. In an environment where rents have been escalating, lease assignments have given some tenants a way to limit rent increases. The change has provoked protests amongst tenant advocates. Other changes in the Bill include a new provision where landlords have to indicate the maximum rent in a lease for the next five years and increasing compensation requirements for landlords who want to evict tenants.
The Ross Ellen Housing Complex – a new supportive housing project – was opened in Winnipeg’s Centennial neighbourhood to house people living with mental health challenges and addictions who are at risk of becoming homeless. The 3-storey, 47-unit complex was once a boarded-up warehouse that lay vacant for 24 years. With funding from all levels of government as well as private philanthropy, the building is expected to be managed under a housing first, recovery-oriented model. Some units are designed to be accessible for people with disabilities while support staff will also be available 24/7.
Calgary City Council voted in favour of recommendations made by its housing and affordability task force after first voting against it, an outcome that provoked significant criticism along with the subsequent reversal in decision. As the affordability crisis impacts Calgarians living on low- to moderate-incomes, the recommendations consist of actions to increase and diversify the housing options in the city, strengthen ties within the housing sector, and improve living conditions for renters. Specific proposals ranged from eliminating conditions around parking minimums to studying the impact of rent control which does not currently exist.
The British Columbia government has identified 47 municipalities that need to focus on expediting housing development through measures such as streamlining approvals processes and updating zoning bylaws. Municipalities such as Surrey and Nanaimo have been identified as those that will have to meet higher housing targets.
New data from the Canadian Rental Housing Index shows that British Columbia has the highest share of renters paying more than 50 percent of their income on shelter. Nearly four out of 10 renter households are paying over 30 percent of their income on shelter, while racialized and/or women-led households are disproportionately paying unaffordable rents. The Canadian Rental Housing Index is a database of rental housing statistics developed by the BC Non-Profit Housing Association (BCNPHA), in partnership with Vancity.
The latest developments in housing policy from across Canada:
Speaking to Canada’s mayors at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Big City Mayors’ Caucus on May 25, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the federal government’s intentions to introduce an infrastructure plan which aims to incentivize the creation of affordable housing across the country. The new plan will launch in the fall and follows an approach similar to Trudeau’s $15 billion transportation plan announced two years ago, by tying federal investments in municipal infrastructure projects with municipalities’ commitments to create affordable housing. The announcement was positively received by housing advocates, with some advising to put safeguards in place to encourage public investments in non-profit housing developments. The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights’ (CCHR) Director of Policy and Communications, Bahar Shadpour, told CBC that while we are in support of the plan, municipal and provincial regulations are needed to protect the existing affordable stock from “investors piggybacking on government investments”.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released its Annual Report for the year 2022 in early May, highlighting results on its portfolio of investments as well as its housing policy, research, and innovation programs. While CMHC’s net loss was higher compared to the previous year, progress has been made on two of the agency’s flagship initiatives. The Rapid Housing Initiative was renewed for a third round, putting Canada on track to build over 14,500 secure and affordable homes for people experiencing homelessness, while also working on the design of the new Housing Accelerator Fund to help municipalities fast-track housing development approval processes. For 2023, CMHC will be focusing on a strategy to improve housing for Indigenous peoples.
At the beginning of June, the province held a summit in Saint John to discuss ways to tackle the housing crisis with over 160 housing stakeholders, ranging from community groups and non-profit organizations to builders, developers, homeowners, educators, and students. The province’s Minister responsible for Housing, Jill Green, said she will use the information shared during the discussions to develop a housing strategy within six weeks. Outside the Convention Centre where the summit was held, ACORN advocates called on the Minister for stronger rent regulations and renoviction policies, in light of the New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants’ Rights report on affordable housing loss, released prior to the summit. The report shows that the number of units priced at or below $750 per month has decreased by 25% over a five-year period, while at the same time the number of units on the higher end of the market doubled, if not tripled. Advocates are calling for stronger rent protections for the existing affordable stock, such as reinstating rent caps. While the Minister remained vague about plans to include rent controls in the design of the new provincial housing strategy, stronger renovictions protections were introduced shortly after the summit.
The Dalhousie Legal Aid Service (DLAS) and other housing advocates are calling for more funding for legal services for low-income tenants who are at risk of homelessness. The number of renters seeking out free legal help to deal with evictions has reached the point where DLAS was forced to halt its walk-in service during the month of May. While there is a 2% cap on rents, landlords can increase the rent at their discretion between tenants, and many are trying to get around the rent cap by offering fixed-term leases and carrying out evictions for renovations. These tactics are leaving low-income tenants struggling to keep their homes and in need of legal supports.
At a Council meeting on May 10, the City of Toronto approved a new policy to allow for mid-rise residential housing in neighborhoods traditionally dominated by detached and semi-detached homes. This move could transform up to 70% of the city’s residential land known as the “yellow belt”. The new framework allows new multiplexes to be built up to three storeys high in low-density areas, and up to four storeys high in areas where taller buildings are already present, under the condition that the design of the new development is integrated to the surrounding environment’s physical features. The City should report back to Council with a review of the impacts after the delivery of the first 200 multiplex building permits. Council also requested that staff report back at a later date on the feasibility of deploying an incentive program to subsidize one affordable unit for each multiplex.
Bill 25 was introduced on May 9 by Caroline Proulx, Minister of Tourism, following the deaths of seven people in March due to a fire in an Old Montreal heritage building that had been operating illegal short-term rentals on Airbnb. Bill 25 will amend Bill 100, which mandated the registration of homes for short-term rentals, but lacked compliance and enforcement methods. It will require a certificate for registration and puts the onus on Airbnb to ensure that its listings comply with property maintenance and safety regulations, with the threat of a hefty fine for unlicensed rentals. It has not yet been determined when the bill would come into effect, but its introduction has been well-received from numerous organizations, including Fairbnb Canada which stated that the province-wide approach is exemplary because it unifies legislation for the whole province and provides the means to create a registry and enforce the regulations.
On May 29, over 100 government officials, advocates and lived experts convened in Winnipeg for the first-ever Homelessness and Poverty Symposium, held at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Attendees discussed supports for mental health and addictions, and the need for deeply affordable housing options for low-income households.
The United Conservative Party (UCP) won the Alberta general election on May 29, taking 49 seats at the legislature, while the New Democratic Party (NDP) took 38 seats. The UCP remains confident in the 2021 provincial housing strategy “Stronger Foundations” and has not provided any new measure to address the issue of rent increases that has been felt across all urban centres in the province.
Calgary’s Housing and Affordability Task Force released a report with six key recommendations to address housing affordability. The Task Force is composed of senior City staff, researchers and housing providers from diverse sectors, and it held a series of closed meetings to review existing housing programs and provide direction to Council on housing matters. To increase affordable housing supply in the city, the Task Force recommended enabling faster development of housing across the city, increasing available land for non-market housing, and ensuring that the supply of affordable housing meets the needs of Indigenous peoples and equity-deserving populations. The Task Force will present the set of recommendations to Council on June 6, and the report recommendations should inform the City’s Corporate Affordable Housing Strategy, set to be reviewed at the end of the summer.
The province’s Housing Supply Act, which passed in November 2022, sets housing targets for municipalities to increase housing supply through densification. Under the Homes for People action plan launched in April, the government has committed an initial $4 billion investment to create density incentives, with an additional $12 billion pledged for the next 10 years. Incentives for municipalities include provincial funding for public amenities, upzoning, supportive housing and financial supports for renters. At the end of May, B.C.’s Housing Minister, Ravi Kahlon, shared the list of the 10 municipalities selected to test out the new housing targets. These municipalities will work with the provincial government over the summer to define the targets.
The Premier of the Northwest Territories, Caroline Cochran, tabled an interdivisional plan to support people experiencing homelessness and improve housing stability, saying a “whole-of-government approach is needed to adequately address homelessness in the territory.” The new strategy, “A Way Home”, includes the establishment of a dedicated unit to coordinate the work across departments, collaborating with community partners to improve access to services and increasing housing options, amongst other measures. The strategy aims to bring homelessness levels to a “functional zero” through a better distribution of shelter services across regions to keep people who are experiencing homelessness close to their communities and the social supports they need. The Premier hopes to establish the homelessness unit within the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs by October 2023.
The latest developments in housing policy from across Canada:
The National Housing Council (NHC) published a report on the federal National Housing Strategy (NHS) where it found that Canada is losing affordable housing faster and in greater quantities than the amount that the NHS program is producing. To address the housing crisis, the NHC recommended that: 1) the NHS be better aligned with the rights-based goals articulated in the National Housing Strategy Act; 2) the Government of Canada focus more funding to increase the share of non-market housing; 3) the Canada Housing Benefit be enhanced; 4) a separate funding stream be established for Indigenous housing programs and; 5) the Government of Canada strengthen accountability and coordination within its government and with other levels of government to improve socio-economic, health and environmental outcomes for all.
Canada’s first Review Panel has been launched to examine the financialization of purpose-built rental housing. Through this process, the Review Panel will look at the impact of the financialization of purpose-built rental housing on the housing system and the right to adequate housing as well as the federal government’s role in addressing this growing issue. Written submissions can be made to the Review Panel from people affected by the financialization of housing, civil society organizations, experts in housing and human rights, and representatives from the purpose-built rental housing sector in Canada.
The Government of Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission and Disability Rights Coalition have reached an interim settlement “towards a systemic human rights remedy to end the discriminatory treatment of people with disabilities.” After a court ruling that found the province’s treatment of persons with disabilities in need of supports and services amounted to systemic discrimination, the subsequent deliberations have resulted in a legally binding and enforceable arrangement that will create a system of social assistance that fully recognizes and respects the different needs of persons with disabilities. The government must now implement a five-year plan that will close all institutional settings for persons with disabilities and eliminate the waitlist for social assistance in five years.
A judge ruled that people living in encampments under the Ville-Marie Expressway can continue to do so until mid-June. This is the third ruling that protects the encampment residents from an eviction notice that Transports Québec first issued last November. However, Mobile Legal Clinic filed for injunctions with the hope that the government would come up with more sustainable and permanent housing options for the encampment residents to ensure that they are not left in a precarious housing situation. The case will return to court at the end of May when lawyers could request an extension if no alternative is found.
The Ontario government introduced Bill 97, the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, making this the fourth housing bill that the province is working to pass under the Housing Supply Action Plan since last year. If passed, some key planning amendments are intended to increase housing construction. For example, some more room is created to convert lands zoned for employment into residential uses by updating the definition of employment areas. Municipalities also stand to gain more flexibility in expanding their boundaries to accommodate future growth. Critics have noted the risk of this proposed change in perpetuating more sprawl. The province’s own Housing Affordability Taskforce earlier found that enough land was available to build more housing without having to increase municipal boundaries. The proposed legislation also includes more protections for renters from potential renovictions. Notably, landlords would now be required to provide tenants with a written notification about the status of renovations along with a report from a qualified person to verify whether the repair needs are so extensive that the unit has to be vacated. Tenants would also be given a 60 day grace period to move back in after a renovated rental unit is available. Bill 97 has been referred to the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy. Public hearings will be held by the committee on May 10th and 11th, 2023. Specific comments related to proposed changes to help tenants from bad faith renovation evictions can be made here by May 21, 2023.
The Ontario government also opened up regulations related to Rental Replacement by-laws for consultation. Earlier, Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, empowered the province to regulate and prohibit municipal requirements for developers to replace redeveloped buildings with the same number of rental units as the older buildings that it converted at similar rents for a period of time. The regulatory changes that have since been proposed consist of a set of minimum requirements, limits and common rules such as the type of compensation that ought to be provided to tenants whose units are being converted. Feedback can be provided on the proposed changes by May 21, 2023 here.
The Manitoba government announced $3 million in new funding for seniors’ housing programs to help seniors safely age in place. From that amount, $1.5 million will be used to provide financial assistance to seniors over the age of 65 with household incomes of $60,000 with home modifications to enhance safety and accessibility and enable participation in daily activities. The remaining funds will be used to help strengthen and stabilize the province’s supportive housing programs by increasing the per diem rate to $50 per resident.
The Manitoba Government announced $3 million in new funding for seniors’ housing programs to help seniors safely age in place. $1.5 million will be used to provide financial assistance to seniors over the age of 65 with household incomes of $60,000 with home modifications to enhance safety and accessibility and enable participation in daily activities. The remaining funds will be used to help strengthen and stabilize the province’s supportive housing programs by increasing the per diem rate to $50 per resident.
ALBERTA
The Alberta government increases housing funding and the NDP release a housing plan as election season kicks off
As election season kicks off in Alberta, the NDP has released a housing plan that aspires to house 40,000 people over the next five years. The plan consists of several commitments including building 8,500 more social housing units with $1.5 billion in provincial investments, increased rental assistance for 20,000 Albertans from the 9,000 that currently receive it, and provision of predictable, consistent funding for shelter spaces. The United Conservative Party has not yet articulated its housing plans although it earlier increased its capital spending for affordable housing over the next three years by $200 million. At the same time, there are broader concerns about whether the province’s affordable housing strategy will benefit those most in need given its reliance on private entities to implement the strategy. Among voters, some point to housing affordability challenges that are making it difficult for them to find adequate housing options even as the province tries to promote affordability to attract more workers from other provinces such as Ontario.
The British Columbia government announced the “Homes for People” action plan, as part of ongoing efforts to tackle the province’s chronic housing problems. Key measures include allowing and incentivizing the construction of secondary suites, enabling more density across the province, further streamlining of local permitting systems to expedite housing development, using public lands to deliver affordable homes and introducing an anti-flipping tax to tackle speculation in housing. The measures are backed up by $4 billion in investments over the next 3 years with a 10 year commitment of $12 billion. The government is also implementing Belonging in BC, a plan that adds 3,900 supportive housing units and 240 complex-care spaces to prevent and reduce homelessness. For 2023, $1.18 billion has been budgeted for the initiative.
The latest developments in housing policy from across Canada:
The federal government released its 2023 budget, which included $4 billion over seven years, beginning in 2024-2025, to implement an Urban, Rural and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy, co-developed with Indigenous partners. The long-awaited strategy is welcome news, although it is not sufficient to meet the need recommended by Indigenous communities. The federal budget lacked any other housing affordability measures for renters to solve the housing affordability and adequacy issues faced by many across Canada. The budget includes a reallocation of funding from the affordable housing repair stream of the National Housing Co-Investment Fund to a new construction stream but does not boost funding for new social and affordable housing, nor does it increase funding for rental supports. Advocates had called for the introduction of a Canada Homelessness Prevention and Housing Benefit to expand the existing Canada Housing Benefit and prevent people from losing their homes. The Federal Housing Advocate noted that the budget fails to address the major systemic issues that are preventing the realization of the human right to housing in Canada, including action on homelessness and the financialization of housing.
The Nova Scotia government introduced a budget which provides $21.6 million for rent subsidies for 1,000 low-income tenants and $8.2 million for shelters. Local housing advocates pointed out that rent supplements are a useful tool but the lack of provincial investment in social housing will compound the lack of housing which tenants can afford. The budget included funding to repair existing social housing but not to construct or fund any new rent-geared-to-income housing in the province.
On April 11, the Nova Scotia government’s legislation to extend the current interim rent cap to the end of 2025 passed into law. The rent cap will also be increased from 2% to 5% annually, beginning in January 2024.The government stated that this amount was chosen to allow landlords to catch up to inflation, while avoiding any large rent increases for tenants. The provincial government first introduced the interim rent cap as a temporary measure in November 2020, in response to a housing affordability crisis that has escalated in recent years due to rising housing costs, the lack of affordable housing options for low-income households, and the lack of construction of rental housing which has not kept up with population growth. The rent cap was extended once before in February 2022. While advocates are relieved to hear that the rent cap will be extended again, they are concerned that the cap was increased to 5%, with some, like ACORN, calling for a permanent rent cap of 2%. Advocates are also concerned that the new legislation does not address a remaining loophole that allows landlords to misuse fixed term leases to get around the rent cap. Specifically, landlords can decide not to renew a fixed-term lease in order to rent a unit to a new tenant at an increased rent that is above the cap. Advocates are calling for provisions around fixed-term leases to be changed to close this loophole. Both the NDP and Liberal Parties have also proposed bills to address the issue of fixed-term leases.
Charlottetown City Council passed a licensing by-law for short-term rentals, which reflects the calls of housing advocates to curb the conversion of rental housing into units for short-term stays through platforms such as Airbnb. Advocates noted that allowing investors to buy rental units and convert them to short-term rentals severely reduced the availability of housing in the city. The by-law will restrict short-term rentals to the owner’s primary residence, in most cases disallowing multiple properties to be rented out by one owner. The by-law came into effect at the end of March 2023.
The Ontario government released its 2023 budget in March, which included several housing-related measures. The budget promised a $202 million annual investment in homelessness prevention and Indigenous supportive housing, as well as a three-year $24 million commitment to fund the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) to address the backlog of cases before the Board. The homelessness prevention investment was welcome news but advocates were concerned that rather than represent an improvement, the funding would merely offset losses caused by development charge changes under the More Homes Built Faster Act. Tenant advocates were also concerned that funding for the LTB would only hasten economic evictions. In our budget submission, we had called for enhanced funding for affordable housing construction and preservation of existing affordable housing, as well as housing benefits to help renters struggling to make ends meet. The budget failed to include such measures.
Ottawa City Council unanimously passed their first budget under Mayor Mark Sutcliffe at the beginning of March. Housing advocates, including the Right to Housing Coalition Ottawa, had called for the City to double the funding set aside for affordable housing to $30 million to address inflation-driven construction costs and increased need in the community. While City Council did not increase the housing budget, a successful motion by Councillor Laine Johnson increased the budget amount of surplus city land to be sold from $1 million to $2.5 million, with the extra revenue to be directed to affordable housing.
Following years of advocacy from groups like Right to Housing Toronto (R2HTO), Toronto City Council supported the creation of a Housing Rights Advisory Committee, and authorized Ombudsman Toronto to set up a Deputy Ombudsman, Housing that would look into systemic housing issues. The new independent Deputy Housing Commissioner would be able to investigate systemic housing issues in the City’s housing policies and services with an equity and rights-based focus. The Commissioner’s office is fully funded and will engage in education and outreach, acting as a resource for City staff and officials in addition to evaluating City housing and homelessness plans. The Housing Rights Advisory Committee will be composed of 11 members of the public (plus one City Councillor) with policy and lived expertise in housing and human rights and should reflect the diversity of Torontonians.
The Manitoba government announced its long-awaited homelessness strategy, A Place for Everyone, which aims to improve services, increase coordination between departments and with other levels of government, and help people transition out of homelessness by finding and retaining housing. The strategy includes $58 million in new funding which will go towards shelters and programs for people experiencing homelessness, 300 new housing units and funding for another 400 units of rent-geared-to-income rent supplements, repair and maintenance of existing social housing, and programs to prevent youth leaving care from experiencing homelessness. While the new funding was welcomed by local advocates, they noted that a short-term commitment to new housing is unable to adequately address the severe loss of affordable units in Manitoba that has occurred in recent years, including the loss of hundreds of social housing units.
Saskatchewan introduced increases to assistance programs in the provincial budget, including a $17 million increase to the Saskatchewan Assured Income Disability (SAID) program, $6.4 million in living income benefits, $14.3 million for the Saskatchewan Income Support program – which includes the Adult Basic Benefit, Shelter Benefit, and Alternative Heating Benefit – and the Senior’s Income Plan. These increases amount to only $30 more for most recipients. Saskatchewan anti-poverty and disability rights advocates criticized the increase, pointing out that the original rates were already insufficient to cover basic needs, which is a problem that has only become more pronounced with the rising cost of living.
Nine of the 19 Northwest Territories Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) voted in favour of a motion by Great Slave MLA Katrina Nokleby to amend the Territory’s Residential Tenancies Act to limit rent increases to no more than the five-year average of the Canada Consumer Price Index. Cabinet MLAs abstained from the vote. The government has 120 days to respond to the motion, but the upcoming territorial election will likely prevent any action on the motion. If the next government introduces a rent increase cap, it will join a small number of provinces in Canada that have a rent guideline. The majority of provinces and territories limit how often landlords can raise the rent but do not set limits on the amount of rent increases, putting the stability of tenants’ housing at risk.
Canada is experiencing an affordable housing crisis. Rents have skyrocketed and renters are increasingly struggling to secure an adequate home that they can afford. In many instances, current provincial laws and policies have incentivized landlords to find ways to evict renters so they can charge higher rents for the next tenant. As a result, evictions are on the rise in many communities across the country.
Renters across Canada need access to secure homes that they can live in for the long term. It is the responsibility of our decision-makers to ensure that renters have protections to stay in their homes. In doing so, the human right to housing is an important framework that decision-makers can adopt to protect tenants’ security of tenure – the ability to keep their homes and be confident that their homes are secure. In fact, under Canada’s National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Canada is obligated to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to housing. The obligation to protect the right to housing requires that our governments create laws and enforcement mechanisms to protect renters from interference with their homes.
Specifically, eviction is only permitted under international human rights law if all the following are true:
The eviction must have a legitimate objective.
Eviction must be necessary to achieve the objective, and there must be no reasonable alternative.
The consequences of eviction must be proportionate to the objective.
This is because international law recognizes that, like other human rights, adequate housing is fundamental to human dignity. It can only be restricted in circumstances where the restriction is justified in a free and democratic society.
Provincial and territorial Residential Tenancies Acts partially protect renters’ right to housing. For example:
Landlords are prohibited from evicting tenants without following a legal process.
Landlords can only evict tenants for specific reasons, such as rent arrears or bad behaviour.
Landlords are required to meet basic maintenance standards and comply with other rules.
However, there are large gaps in the protections afforded by residential tenancies legislation, where Canada has failed to protect the human right to housing. To give just a few examples:
Some renters, especially some of the most vulnerable who live in shared rooms or transitional housing, are denied any legal protections.
Residential Tenancies Acts often allow landlords to evict tenants for their own convenience, such as to do renovations more easily.
Many provinces and territories have inadequate rent regulations, so landlords can effectively evict tenants simply by raising their rent to unaffordable levels.
Even where the law is intended to protect tenants, legal processes are often inaccessible or unfair, and consequences for delinquent landlords are not serious enough to deter illegal conduct.
Because of these and other failures, Canada is falling short of its obligation under international law to protect renters’ human right to housing.
How do we solve this issue?
To make housing security a reality in Canada, residential tenancies laws need to be updated and strengthened. To meet Canada’s obligation to protect the right to housing, we recommend that each province and territory amend its residential tenancies laws to:
Limit the reasons a landlord can evict a tenant only to issues that cannot be resolved by other means.
Strengthen rent regulations to protect tenants from economic evictions resulting from unexpected or excessive rent increases.
Strengthen the remedies available to tenants, and the consequences for landlords, when a tenant is illegally evicted.
Improve the accessibility, fairness, and expertise of residential tenancies tribunals.
Conduct a full review of residential tenancies laws to identify and close other gaps in tenant protections.
Everyone deserves to live securely in their home, whether they are a homeowner or rent their home. A secure home is necessary for living with dignity and for individuals to fully participate in their communities and the economy. It is our duty as a democratic society to ensure that everyone is protected from illegal, unnecessary, and unfair interference with their home.
Learn more about Canada’s obligation to the right to housing
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
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