A local group continues to fight for rent control in the province.
Co-Chair for ACORN Peter Jongeneelen says this is a desperate situation, ” I have seen tenants that are on social assistance they’re getting like $693 a month and then all of a sudden their rent is going up like 25 percent. They can’t live there and they can’t find anything that is affordable.”
He says they’ve seen people going without food due to the high costs because all they can afford is a roof over their heads
“We’re seeing some out, basically on the streets, or they’re trying to couch surf at a friend’s house. Once they do that they don’t have a fixed address so they could lose their social assistance altogether. We don’t want to see that happen because then that does create a homeless situation for them. Housing needs to be a human right,” Jongeneelen adds.
He says the province originally decided that rent control would not be included in the provincial housing strategy, but now they say they are willing to consider it, but only after they return from their summer break in October.
Jongeneelen says they refuse to wait that long because by then it will be too late.
