Alberta NDP proposes temporary four-year rent cap in new bill
An Alberta NDP MLA introduced a private member's bill on Tuesday that, if passed, would legislate a four-year cap on rent increases and force the government to report on how much affordable housing is being built each year.
The rent cap proposed in Bill 205, Housing Statutes (Housing Security) Amendment Act 2023, has two phases: the first two years would keep rent increases to no more than two per cent and the cap in the last two years would tie increases to the rate of inflation.
Janis Irwin, the NDP Opposition critic for housing, said renters need immediate action to help with affordability.
"We are truly hearing from renters who are experiencing 20-, 30-, 50-per-cent increases," she told reporters at a news conference in Calgary on Tuesday.
Christina Crane, who joined Irwin at Monday's news conference, is one of those renters. The Calgary woman said she wrote both Seniors, Seniors and Community Services Minister Jason Nixon and Premier Danielle Smith about the challenges faced by her, her mother and her friends.
After facing a 14-per-cent increase last year, Crane said her rent went up another 23 per cent.
She is frustrated because wages are not keeping up with housing costs.
"This is not a matter of living outside of our means or having too many subscriptions," Crane said.
"It's a matter of housing no longer being affordable in this province."
Nixon, who is in charge of housing, has rejected the idea of a rent cap in the past because he believes it would stifle the creation of new market housing.
A report released last month by Rentals.ca and Urbanation found that in October, among Canada's largest cities, Calgary topped the list in annual rent growth for apartments for the ninth straight month.
Temporary measure
The NDP didn't embrace the idea of a rent cap during the recent Alberta election.
But Irwin, in her new role as housing critic, said she spent the summer talking to stakeholders about the housing crisis. She decided the cap was a way to provide immediate relief to renters.
"This is a temporary measure," Irwin said. "This is one piece of many that we're putting forward, that we're hopeful that the minister and the UCP government are willing to reconsider."
Mental Health and Addictions Minister Dan Williams, who is filling in while Nixon is away due to a family matter, said rent controls are a non-starter.
"Rent control doesn't work," Williams told reporters at the Alberta legislature. "We're going to see an increase, if we do that, on demand and we need to see an increase of supply."
The Alberta legislature debates private member's bills on Monday. The fall sitting is expected to wrap up on Thursday at the latest so MLAs won't get to consider Bill 205 until the spring.
