Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced new measures he says will help protect Canadian renters and help them break into the housing market ahead of the 2024 budget.
He said Wednesday that the proposed three new reforms will “make the playing field fairer for renters” amid an affordability crisis making homeownership out of reach for many.
“It’s too hard to find an affordable place to rent, especially for younger Canadians. That’s why in Budget 2024, we’re taking action to protect renters, make the rental market fairer, and open new pathways for renters to become homeowners,” Trudeau said in a press release.
The proposed measures aim to amend the Canadian Mortgage Charter to allow tenants to count on-time rent payments toward their credit score, and propose $15 million in new funding to provincial legal aid organizations to better protect tenants against unfair rent payments, renovictions or “bad landlords,” the release says.
The government is also proposing a new Canadian Renters’ Bill of Rights which would require landlords to disclose the history of a property’s pricing so renters can bargain fairly.
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Trudeau says the bill will “crack down on renovictions, create a nationwide standard lease agreement, and give renters more agency.”
“Renters deserve credit for the money they put toward rent over the years, especially when it comes time to apply for a mortgage for their first home,” the release said.
This year’s federal budget will be tabled in the House of Commons on April 16 and is expected to focus heavily on housing.
Earlier this month, the NDP called for a rental protection fund to stop renovictions as part of what the party coined its “budget demands.”
“If we see rents continue to rise the way they are, and if we can continue to see affordable homes being sold off to rich investors, and we’re not going to be able to have affordable homes for people,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said at a press conference in Coquitlam, B.C.
“So we’ve got to stop that. And the only way we stop that is empowering community to be able to keep those affordable homes affordable. And so that’s what we’re fighting for today.”
Renoviction is the practice where tenants are served eviction notices and property owners renovate the building, often reposting the units at a higher price.
Wednesday’s press release notes that the new measures are both about protecting renters and about “generational fairness” for millennials and Generation Z, who make up a large part of Canada’s rental market.
A Statistics Canada report Wednesday highlighted a number of affordability issues staring down renters and younger generations that put them at risk of missing key financial milestones, particularly achieving the dream of homeownership.
“Sustained food inflation, elevated housing prices, and increasingly unaffordable rental costs across much of the country are casting a shadow over the homeownership dream for many households — and, in particular, for young families,” the report says.
–with files from Global News’ David Baxter
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