WHY JUSTIN TRUDEAU’S ‘BILL OF RIGHTS’ MAY NOT HELP RENTERS IN B.C.

This past week, the prime minister announced measures to help renters as part of the upcoming federal budget, including a requirement for landlords to disclose their properties’ rental price history so renters can bargain fairly.

“In cities where there are very little vacancies, its effect will be irrelevant,” said Penelope Gurstein, co-director of the University of B.C.’s Housing Research Collaborative.

Rental demand outpaced supply in major markets across the county last year, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s January review. In Vancouver, the average rent for a two-bedroom, purpose-built rental increased to $2,181, well above the national average of $1,258. The vacancy rate remained unchanged at 0.9 per cent.

Gurstein says that as Canada’s housing landscape changes from majority home ownership to monthly rentals, it signals that more measures are needed.

“Existing affordable rental stock is most in danger,” said Gurstein.

Trudeau said the federal government plans to create a $15-million fund to help provincial legal-aid and tenants’ rights advocacy groups support tenants in their fight against increasing costs and bad-faith evictions, and will require banks and credit companies incorporate rent payment history into consumers’ credit scores.

Rob Patterson, a legal advocate with the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre in Vancouver, agrees.

He says the main cause of B.C.’s lack of affordable rentals is not “a problem of information disparity,” but rather of landlords opting to evict tenants because of the financial incentive.

“If you’re a tenant and you’re renting a 30-year-old, one-bedroom unit for $2,500 a month in Vancouver, you can be pretty sure that the person renting before you always paid significantly less,” Patterson said.

“Some landlords have just being saying they have to evict everyone for substantial repairs, then put a fresh coat of paint on the walls, and rent out the units for double or triple the previous rent,” he added.

Patterson hopes that the new federal policies announced by Trudeau will draw on legislation in provinces such as Manitoba, where tenants with a school-aged child cannot be legally evicted until the end of the school year.

In B.C., if a tenant does not pay rent, “they get evicted — no questions asked,” said Patterson.

David Hutniak, CEO of LandlordBC, which represents landlords in the province, said he supports the policy changes. Tenants may not gain much power to successfully bargain for prices, but it could cause landlords to take a second look at the pricing for new tenants, he said.

Providing data on the history of rental apartment prices will be good for tenants, and having credit scores indicate whether potential tenants paid their past rent on time will also be good for landlords, he added.

Hutniak acknowledged the public distrust of landlords, which he attributes, in part, to the lack of transparency.

“Such a change could, in the long run, help them become less villainized,” he said.

The federal budget will be presented on April 16.