A Dartmouth resident has been handed notice of an $850 per month rent increase.
NDP Leader Gary Burrill, Dartmouth South candidate Claudia Chender, and reporters met with Mike Sangster over the weekend.
Sangster told them his building came under new ownership in the spring, and he was soon informed by the property management company of the planned rent spike.
The notice says once temporary rent control is lifted, the price will go up from $1,000 to $1,850 per month plus an additional $150 for parking.
Sangster has lived at the property for 25 years.
“My roommate and I were quite shocked about receiving this,” he said during the meeting. “We were expecting some sort of rent increase because of the new owners. But that was really something that made us sit down and talk about where we would live. We are both on fixed pensions, so really we can’t afford that kind of increase in rent.”
Sangster says they’ve been searching for an affordable place to live, but most of the two-bedrooms they’ve found are listed at over $1,200.
Throughout the provincial election campaign affordable housing has remained a hot topic.
(CREDIT: Nova Scotia NDP)
The NDP have been pushing for permanent rent control and have vowed to create more cost-friendly homes in Nova Scotia.
Meantime, both the Liberals and PC parties are against a permanent rent cap, and are instead focused on bringing more affordable housing to the region.
Liberal Leader Iain Rankin, however, has promised under his government the rent control order would not be tied to the province’s state of emergency.
The order was put into effect due to the pandemic in November.
It limits rent increases to two per cent annually until the state of emergency is lifted, or February 2022, whichever date comes first.
Rankin says it would remain under his leadership until a better solution is found.
Leader Tim Houston says the Tory focus would be on affordable housing solutions, but his party would also study whether the temporary rent control needs to be extended.
