QUEEN’S PARK – Official Opposition NDP Leader Marit Stiles (Davenport) and Housing critic Jessica Bell (University-Rosedale) will be introducing their opposition day motion this afternoon that, if passed, will bring back real rent control on all housing units, ensuring rent between tenancies would stay the same, and remove incentive for illegal evictions.
“Big cities, small towns, rural and urban communities, across the province – Ontarians are hurting from a historic cost-of-living and housing crisis. Many Ontarians are paying 50 per cent of their income for rent – this is unacceptable,” said Stiles. “Skyrocketing rent is pricing people out of their communities. This is why, we are proud to advance a solution that will immediately help make housing more affordable for Ontarians, and address one of the core issues propelling this crisis.”
"Ford Conservatives have a terrible track record at solving the housing crisis – their policies and solutions are simply not working. It has never been more expensive to rent or buy a home in Ontario,” said Bell. “It is alarming to learn that Toronto’s average rent price has increased by 13.8 per cent from the previous year and has now broke $3,000 a month for the first time. This is a clear distress signal that our housing affordability crisis is getting worse. Do we want a city that’s affordable for workers, or do we want a city that is exclusively for the well-to-do? That is what is at stake here, and we are giving this government the opportunity to make the right choice and course correct.”
Stiles and Bell were joined by Nicole Stoddart, a young professional and tenant facing an almost 10 per cent rent hike due to the lack of rent control regulations in Ontario and is being forced to leave her community.
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“There is no more affordable housing left. The ability to thrive, live in a supportive community, and even afford basic necessities is becoming more and more unattainable here in Ontario. When someone who earns 100,000 a year can be financially evicted from their basement apartment, and find there is nowhere to go, it tells you we are living in a broken province. To fix it, renters need this government to bring back rent control. And to close the loopholes that are giving landlords like mine the incentive to throw out tenants.”
- Nicole Stoddart