Examining New Brunswick's Housing Crisis

On the third episode of NB debrief, Tobin Haley sits down with Matthew Hayes, Aditya Rao, and Sarah Lunney to discuss the housing crisis and the demand for rental reforms.

Earlier this year, the provincial government initiated a 90-day review of the housing situation in New Brunswick after being pressured by over 30 community organizations to reflect on the low vacancy rates, the exponentially increased rates of rent, the absence of rent control, absence of tenure security, and the resulting violation of human rights to shelter. The investigation reviewed 4,600 residents, and, despite evidence of the aforementioned factors contributing to the overall crises, the provincial government concluded that there is no rental crisis in New Brunswick. 

Matthew Hayes, professor at St. Thomas University and member of the New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants rights, speaks to Haley on the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and how it is being used to extract value from properties and maximize profit for private corporations and shareholders. “The REIT changed the way the market operates,” says Hayes, “it’s not a free market, it’s a market of very large corporations.” With corporations buying up old housing stocks and making demands up to “50% more than what previous owners had extracted from the property”, it is of no surprise that many fear the permanent removal of affordable rentals from the market. 

To discuss the consequences of such actions, Haley welcomes Sarah Lenney, member of ACORN NB and board of directors for the St. John Community Food Basket, and Aditya Rao, human rights lawyer and member of the NB Coalition for Tenants Rights. “Tenants in NB have far fewer rights than tenants almost anywhere else in the country,” states Rao, ““How many people need to be evicted, how many people need to have their rent increased by 50%, how many people need to be forced out of their homes to acknowledge that this is a crisis.” Rao explains that the government review clearly presents evidence of a housing crises; however, by finding loopholes in their definitions and categorization, the reviews, overall, fails to acknowledge the violation of the human rights that have occured due to this “wild west approach to rent where anybody can charge whatever they want with the sole view to it maximizing profit, affordability be damned.” 

“We need better protections against evictions,” adds Lenney, “We are seeing our neighbours get kicked out of their homes in the name of profit and that’s not okay.” Lenney highlights examples of individuals being denied housing because they either have children or a disability, and that, in some cases, many landlords have taken advantage of low vacancy rates to raise rent up  to 200% more than previous rates . “I don’t know how the government can continue to say it’s not a crisis when we see people having their human rights being violated and actively being denied housing.”

Moving forward, Lenney and Rao encourage the government to explore independence from private corporations and to find creative ways to circulate value back into the province rather than allowing it to leave through corporate shareholders. Additionally, rent reform and accurate analyses of topics such as evictions and tenure security need to be acknowledged in order to proceed in an honest and effective manner. “There’s no evidence that rent control really stops any kind of new development,” says Rao, “so we need the government to step in, and we need them to step in yesterday.”