Feds won’t force rent cap on N.B. to access housing cash 

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New Brunswick won’t be forced to implement a rent cap to access its share of a recently announced $5-billion federal housing fund, according to the housing parliamentary secretary.  

Ontario MP Peter Fragiskatos, who serves as secretary to federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser, says the feds are leaving it up to individual provinces to “sort out” whether rent control is appropriate for their communities. 

“A one-size-fits-all approach may not work, but individuals and stakeholders are free to push provinces in the direction that they wish – rent control included,” Fragiskatos said at a national housing conference in Fredericton Wednesday. 

New Brunswick tenants are already bracing for major rent hikes next year due to a dispute over provincial property tax policy. Last month, the New Brunswick Apartment Owners Association warned its members may be forced to jack up rents if the province taxes them in 2025 based on the full value of their property assessments. 

The association represents the owners of 70 per cent of the 36,000 rental units in the province.  

New Brunswick has been without a fixed rent cap since the end of 2022. That’s when its one-year, 3.8 per cent cap expired, much to the disappointment of renters and housing advocates. 

Last week, the federal government announced a total of $5 billion in federal housing cash for provinces, but in order for each province to receive its share, it must agree to certain conditions, including allowing the development of four-unit properties without requiring municipal rezoning approval.  

Premier Blaine Higgs was initially skeptical of the conditions set out by the federal Liberal government.  

In an interview Wednesday, Fragiskatos said he doesn’t “see what’s out of place in attaching a set of conditions on infrastructure funding that will ensure more homes get built as quickly as possible,” noting there’s only one taxpayer. 

No commitment on rent control 

New Brunswick Housing Minister Jill Green hasn’t ruled out the eventual return of a rent cap, but in its absence, she introduced a phased-in mechanism to allow above-inflation hikes to be spread out over two or three years. However, advocates say the measure has been confusing for tenants who are required to apply and keep track of inflation rates to determine if they qualify. 

Staff within Housing New Brunswick have “heard the arguments and the data” in support of a rent cap through emails, calls and public events, according to Greg Forestell, director of housing programs for the newly formed Crown corporation. 

He was asked about the role of rent control during a panel discussion on Fredericton’s housing crisis.   

“We certainly as staff and civil servants take (comments on rent control) back to our senior leadership and have those conversations about what we’re hearing on the streets, so to speak, and we’ll leave it up to the legislators to decide how to address that issue,” he told a crowd gathered at the Fredericton Convention Centre. 

Leaders of several Fredericton non-profit organizations spoke Wednesday about the need to make a better case for affordable and inclusive housing projects with neighbours and developers alike. 

“We have a supply and demand issue here in Fredericton and across the province,” said Perry Kendall, CEO of Habitat for Humanity New Brunswick. “Unfortunately, especially at the more deeply affordable side of things, there’s more and more landlords opting out of the provincially subsidized programs knowing the demand is there and they are able to get higher rents, so that’s a concern.” 

Unless rent control is in place, the construction of more affordable housing won’t make a dent in the problem if the province is losing existing units at the same time, according to Ricardo Tranjan, senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternates. 

New Brunswick is one of five provinces without a permanent rent control policy in Canada. The other four are Saskatchewan, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia. 

Fredericton Mayor Kate Rogers says she shares growing concerns over rising rents. 

“I know being the mayor of a city who has watched our rents skyrocket, I find it a bit scary because it’s certainly outpacing income, and we’re seeing that in mid-sized cities across the country,” said Rogers, who is also chair of the city’s affordable housing committee. 

“I feel (rent control) is not in enough of our conversations and it is very much within our authority – in fact, within of all our authorities – to be considering it.”