QUEEN’S PARK – NDP Housing Critic Jessica Bell (University—Rosedale) released the following statement after Ford’s Conservatives set the rent increase guidelines for 2024 at 2.5%, the highest increase legally allowable under Residential Tenancies Act:
“Jacking up the rent for millions of Ontario renters is only going to make the Ford Conservatives’ housing affordability crisis worse.
2.5% is a huge increase, especially when you consider that rent is already so high, and most Ontarians’ wages haven’t kept up.
And if you’re in a rental first rented on November 15, 2018 or later, the sky’s the limit as far as how high your rent can go up, thanks to the Ford Conservatives’ massive loophole.
Ford’s housing plan isn’t working because they’re more interested in helping developers and not Ontarians struggling to find affordable places to live.
We need a comprehensive strategy to solve our housing crisis, starting with bringing back strong rent control on all homes, including vacancy decontrol—where a new tenant pays the same rent as the previous tenant. The Ontario NDP would invest immediately in affordable housing, take steps to curb greedy speculation, and spur the construction of 1.5 million new homes for Ontarians.”