FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - NB Coalition for Tenants Rights Releases Housing Report

New Brunswick tenants fight against a system leaves them without protection from unreasonable rent increases, arbitrary eviction, and persistent harassment from landlords.

These are the findings of a report released today by the New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants Rights.

The report is based on empirical research conducted by UNB and St. Thomas University professors over a two-year period. It includes 346 participants in a province-wide survey from different demographic backgrounds and geographical locations. It also supported the survey with qualitative focus groups with groups of New Brunswick tenants and with a scoping review of recent news stories and academic literature.

The report was produced with funding from the Canadian Housing Transformation Centre.

“Our report draws attention to the desperation and anger tenants feel about having been left unprotected in a rapidly changing rental market,” said report lead author Tobin LeBlanc Haley, who is also a spokesperson for the Coalition.

“Government authorities and some opposition parties continuously talk about ‘balance’ between the interests of tenants and landlords, but they neglect the huge power imbalance between the two,” she said. “To establish something like balance, we need to bulk up tenant protections in a big way.”

New Brunswick tenants, the report finds, are worried about losing their homes, with tenants with disabilities, single parents, and racialized tenants over-represented in this group.

Three quarters of respondents said they were worried about rent increases, while a third said they endured unsafe living conditions, which range from units in disrepair to landlords who walk into private bedrooms unannounced.

“New Brunswick tenants should have a right to reasonable enjoyment of their home,” said co-author and Coalition spokesperson Kristi Allain.

Qualitative data show that tenants were concerned about housing unaffordability and sometimes took extraordinary measured to afford their rental homes. These included eating poorly, missing car payments, and forging medical needs, like dental appointments and prescription drugs. They expressed concerns that they couldn’t get ahead, feared that a rent increase might lead to homelessness and avoid complaints against their landlords for fear of retaliatory evictions.

“What little protections our Residential Tenancies Act provides is also undermined by tenants’ fears that the rules will not actually be applied, or that they may eventually face retaliation from landlords who want to evict them,” said co-author and Coalition spokesperson Matthew Hayes.

The report’s recommendations cover issues like the need for rent control and the inclusion of public housing tenants within the protections offered by the RTA.

Its recommendations also spell out how the province’s residential tenancies regulations need to change to provide adequate protections for current rental housing markets.

The Coalition is calling for the establishment of an impartial residential tenancies tribunal that hears evidence and that has power to enforce provisions of the RTA and review all eviction proceedings.

“Low-income tenants also should have access to legal support to help them defend themselves on landlord-tenant disputes. Currently, Legal Aid certificates do not cover these issues, yet we know that losing your home is pretty devastating, especially for low-income households with fewer resources to help defend themselves,” said Tobin LeBlanc Haley.

The recommendations, if enacted, would also allow the Tenant-Landlord Relations Office to initiate a complaint against a landlord on the public’s behalf.

Allain summed up the state of renting in New Brunswick, stating, “We see a lot of pain and anger amongst tenants in the province. Tenants believe that the system is not protecting them and instead works in the interests of landlords.”

“If enacted, our recommendations, many of which are long overdue, work to make renting in this province better for tenants. It will help alleviate the stress and fear associated with leaving rental concerns to the whims of the market”.

Publications & Reports

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tenants’ Coalition Releases Rent Control Proposal for Next Government

The New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants Rights has released draft rent control regulations  that, if enacted into law, would stabilize run-away rent increases in New Brunswick while providing fairness to landlords.

The draft regulations, commissioned by the Coalition from the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights, a national housing rights advocacy group, provides a template for the next provincial government to address large rent increases that are crippling tenants’ finances.

While rental inflation mostly affects the province’s almost 90,000 tenant households, the Coalition also notes that investors are collecting single-family homes to rent, and that this growing market has pushed up housing assessments and property taxes on homeowners.

“The cost of living crisis in New Brunswick is largely about housing-related bills, and the government’s ‘leave-it-to-the-market’ approach has failed. It is time to address that failure, and this legislation would begin to do that,” says Kristi Allain, a spokesperson for the Coalition, who is also a member of Fredericton’s Affordable Housing Committee.

The proposed measures would permit landlords to increase rents to match inflation, pass through increases in tax, insurance, and renovation costs to tenants, and stabilize rent increases for tenants.

It would also provide a mechanism for property tax reductions to be passed on to tenants, which currently does not exist.

Most importantly, the measures are tied to the rental unit, rather than the tenant, ensuring that the province does not continue to rapidly lose more of its relatively affordable rental stock to investors.

According to analysis from the Coalition and UNB’s HOME-RL, a research lab, New Brunswick lost 8,600 rental housing units affordable to modest income-earning households between 2016 and 2021—an average of almost 33 units per week.

“The legislation we are proposing sets the agenda for the next government. Whoever wins the election on October 21st, this is the legislation we need to keep more New Brunswickers securely housed,” said Kristi Allain.

Between October 2020 and October 2023, rents in New Brunswick increased by nearly 30%—the largest increase over that period in Canada. This has left many New Brunswick tenants in financial distress, and it corresponds to a period of rapidly increasing homelessness in the province’s towns and cities.

“The lack of rental protections for tenants has had a huge impact on the safety and security of the almost 90,000 households in New Brunswick who rent,” said Tobin LeBlanc Haley, a spokesperson for the Coalition.

“While opposition parties have called for a ‘rent cap’, they have not explained how they will prevent rapid rental inflation due to lack of controls between tenancies.”

The draft regulations will protect New Brunswick from rampant rent increases, renovictions, and other abuses against tenants that are observed in other jurisdictions. It will make it easier for tenant households to find more affordable rental units.

In a research report to be released later this month, the Coalition draws attention to the lack of housing security in New Brunswick’s deregulated rental environment.

“It is having a huge impact on tenants,” said Tobin LeBlanc Haley.

The Coalition explains that the market is failing tenants and people who live in homes.

The Coalition is also fighting to have social housing tenants included in the Residential Tenancies Act. The exclusion of the province’s most vulnerable tenants from protections of any sort, however limited, is a major legislative gap that should have been addressed by previous governments.

The draft regulatory changes commissioned by the Coalition will address this gap, while ensuring that tenants in social housing continue to benefit from deep affordability measures that regulate rent increases.

Since the release in May 2021 of the Conservative government’s rental housing market study, known as the Hansen Report, which found there was no rental crisis in the province, the number of households on social housing wait lists has doubled to almost 11,000.

Over the same period, food bank use has increased more rapidly than in other provinces, where rent control measures exist.

Publications & Reports

Infographic: New Brunswick's Affordable Rentals are Vanishing

In preparation for the New Brunswick Housing Futures Summit, the NB Coalition For Tenants’ Rights has produced an infographic detailing the reduction in affordable housing supply from 2011-2021. The data were made publicly available by Statistics Canada last fall and were analyzed by the Coalition and the nationally-recognized HOME-RL (Housing, Mobilization and Engagement Research Lab) at UNB Saint John.

Much of the Summit (which had its first meeting in February 2023) has focused on building new affordable housing, but the NB Coalition for Tenants Rights says that is not enough, and recommends that the adoption of rent control to hold on to the affordable housing already available in the province.

Tenants file complaint against the Saint John Apartment Owners Association with the Federal Privacy Commissioner over alleged tenant blacklist

Tenants in New Brunswick are expressing alarm following a public admission today by Gerry Webster of the Saint John Apartment Owners Association that his organization maintains a list of 2500 “problem tenants” that is shared among his association’s 100 members. 

The concerning admission about the tenant blacklist, which is illegal under federal privacy legislation, was made in a CBC article published May 17, 2022.

“Federal privacy rules are clear - a tenant blacklist is illegal. We have filed a complaint today with the Federal Privacy Commissioner’s office in response to Mr. Webster’s comments in the media,” said Jael Duarte, a lawyer and Tenants Advocate working with the NB Coalition for Tenants Rights.

The complaint alleges that Mr. Webster’s comments constitute an admission that the Saint John Apartment Owners Association maintains an illegal tenant blacklist. The complaint demands that the Association immediately stop maintaining such a list, publicly acknowledge that they have maintained the list illegally, publicly apologize for maintaining a blacklist and that they make a personal apology to every individual on the list.

Webster’s comments come after he has already admitted in an interview with the Telegraph-Journal that his members are looking for ways to circumvent the retroactive 3.8% rent cap proposed by the government by charging tenants extra fees in other ways. 

“It is clear that this group has no respect for the law. They recently admitted they want to circumvent the rent cap, now they admit that they maintain an illegal tenant blacklist. And their provincial counterparts used private tenant information last year to intimidate tenants and demand that they help campaign for a tax cut that would enrich landlords or face rent increases,” said Sarah Lunney, Provincial Chair of ACORN NB. 

In November 2021, the NB Apartment Owners Association distributed flyers to tenants calling on them to advocate for a property tax cut for landlords. They used private tenant information collected for the purpose of tenancies to engage in advocacy for personal gain, clearly misusing private data. 

The flyer suggested that high rents are a direct result of property taxes, effectively threatening tenants with rent increases if property taxes were not lowered. The NB Coalition for Tenants Rights filed a complaint with the Federal Privacy Commissioner on that issue in December, 2021 and is awaiting a response.

The NB Coalition for Tenants Rights and ACORN NB continue to call on the Government of New Brunswick for a new Residential Tenancies Act which guarantees the right to housing, strengthens protections for tenants, and includes a robust rent control regime that is permanent.

The Rent Cap has been announced, but there's more to be done

The New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants Rights is dismayed to learn that a time-consuming legislative amendment is required for the cap to take effect. This announcement comes after assurances that the 3.8% rent cap would be implemented through a simple change in regulation. According to Minister Wilson, this legislation will likely not take effect until June.

In short, tenants, who were led to believe they would get prompt relief from rising rents, will have to wait while the government sorts out how to enact this promise. The lack of planning on the part of the province prior to Tuesday’s announcement demonstrates, once again, that the Higgs’ government is not committed to ending the housing crisis in New Brunswick.

Tenants are angry, upset, and confused. For a brief moment, it appeared as though tenants could predict their rental costs for the year and make financial plans. This is no longer the case. The Coalition, along with other community organizations, is working hard to understand how the cap will be implemented and what will be required of tenants who need to have this cap applied retroactively.

“The Government of New Brunswick spent years doing nothing about this crisis and claimed that rent control would not work. Now that they have realized rent control is needed, they have botched it by first promising a temporary rent cap that would do little to abate the crisis, and then failing to enact it with urgency,” said Jael Duarte, the Tenants Advocate for the NB Coalition for Tenants Rights.

Instead of advancing half-baked non-solutions, the Government of New Brunswick must act swiftly to enact robust and permanent rent control with oversight from a strengthened Residential Tenancies Tribunal. “We need a Residential Tenancies Act that puts human rights at its centre, and that means a right to housing approach to tenancies in this province,” Duarte said.

Fredericton Rental Focus Group on March 24th

Tenants 19+ living in Zone 3 (Fredericton Region).

Host Language: English

Date: March 24th, 2022

Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Focus group will take place via Zoom*.

Are you a tenant in NB living in Zone 3 (Central West, Fredericton Area)? The New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants Rights is asking tenants in NB to participate in an online focus group about experiences renting in the province. The provincial government has said there is no rental crisis in the province, but rising rents and renovictions suggest otherwise. We want to hear from you about your experiences renting in the province.

Focus group data will be used to create publicly available infographics, reports, and other materials that will provide a robust snapshot of the challenges facing tenants in the province.

You will be provided with $25 as a thank you for participating.

To arrange participation please email nbtenants@unb.ca. If you have privacy concerns and would prefer to do an interview, please indicate at this time.

If you live in Zone 3 and would prefer to participate in a focus group in French, please let us know using the email nbtenants@unb.ca.

This project has been reviewed by the Research Ethics Board (REB) at the University of New Brunswick and is on file as UNB REB File #049-2021.

This project has been reviewed by the Research Ethics Board (REB) at St. Thomas University (REB Reference ID 2022-02).

Host Language: English Date: March 24th, 2022 Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Who can participate? All tenants 19+ living in New Brunswick Health Zone 3. We will be doing these in across the province over the coming months!

*A Zoom link for this virtual focus group will be provided to participants 1 day prior to the scheduled meeting. Participants will be notified of any changes.

Removal of so-called ‘Double Tax’ will worsen rental market: Report

Government’s focus should be on tackling financialization and strengthening tenants’ rights, the New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants Rights says

An explosive new report by the New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants Rights shows that landlords stand to make enormous sums of money if the Government of New Brunswick follows through on promises to cut the so-called “double tax.” Rather than solving the affordable housing crisis, this property tax cut for landlords will likely make the crisis worse.

The report – the first of its kind focused on New Brunswick’s market – describes how financial investors have developed a technique to cause “forced appreciation” of rental properties. This is a process whereby landlords increase rents to increase the net operating income of a property, which results in a higher property valuation, in turn permitting owners to source more capital by refinancing the property that has now been forced to appreciate in value.

Forced appreciation is a result of increased financialization of housing, where profit is the primary motive rather than affordability, the report notes. New Brunswickers facing astronomical rent increases are seeing the direct result of financialized housing markets.

The report’s author, Dr. Matthew Hayes, is a Canada Research Chair in Global and Transnational Studies at St. Thomas University in Fredericton. According to Hayes, cutting taxes on landlords during a real estate boom will make real estate more desirable for financial investors, who are increasingly seeking out rental incomes for their portfolios, which will worsen rental inflation. 

This is something that should worry New Brunswick homeowners too, Hayes notes.

“New Brunswick homeowners who are complaining about high property tax bills throughout the province should know that these bills are in part the result of a red hot real estate market for rental housing inflating property values that the province intends to make worse with a handout to corporate real estate investors in the form of a tax cut for landlords,” Hayes said.

A key reason why a property tax cut is likely to lead to more rental inflation is the national and international trend towards something called “cap rate compressions” in the real estate industry. As Dr. Hayes points out in the report, “cap rates” or capitalization rates, are a measure of risk (lower rates indicate less risk), and they have been falling across Canada as institutional investors pour more capital into the housing sector.

“Simply put, financial investors consider New Brunswick landlords to be undervaluing their properties,” Hayes said. “They have demonstrated their willingness to buy properties far above their assessed values. The national rental property boom reflects the growth of financialized landlords in regional Canadian markets like New Brunswick, where there are still significant profits to be extracted from forced appreciation.”

The report notes that the largest landlords capitalizing on New Brunswick rental properties are not necessarily reinvesting that money in New Brunswick. Killam REIT, New Brunswick’s largest landlord, owns 1 in 7 rental units in the province. Revenue generated through refinancing and tax cuts will likely be used for its ambitions to expand its portfolio of properties outside of Atlantic Canada, and to pass profits on to investors.

“The Coalition for Tenants Rights is sounding the alarm on this proposed tax cut not just for tenants, but also for small landlords,” Hayes said. “While some landlords—especially the largest—will win big returns as a result of a tax cut, smaller landlords without access to credit will simply see their costs continue to rise, as the industries that service rental firms continue to consolidate. Beyond tax bills, insurance and building costs are increasing faster on a per unit basis for smaller landlords than they are for larger ones, who can leverage their economies of scale.”

According to the Coalition, the report shows that it is unsound public policy to expect tax cuts for landlords to trickle down to benefit tenants. There are proven solutions to the affordable housing crisis that the Government of New Brunswick should focus on instead of debating a tax cut guaranteed to enrich wealthy landlords, the Coalition argues. 

“It is not a coincidence that tenants in New Brunswick are bearing the brunt of these out-of-control rent increases. Previous research shows that financial investors are attracted to jurisdictions with weak tenant protections,” said Jael Duarte, a lawyer and the Tenants Advocate for the New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants Rights.

“Instead of diverting $70 million or more of public funds as a result of the tax cut to New Brunswick landlords – the largest of which will take home the largest shares of the cut – the province must focus on proven solutions: rent control, investing in non-market housing, such as non-profit and cooperative housing, and strengthening tenants’ rights,” Duarte said.

Know your rights

Webinar Series

What do you do if you receive an eviction notice? How do you get your security deposit money back? What is the Residential Tenancies Tribunal? Find out the answers to all these questions and more in our webinar series with the NB Tenants Advocate, Jael Duarte

You can register for the first webinar by visiting our Facebook page

This project is funded by the Community Based Tenant Initiative Fund, a grant administered by the Community Housing Transformation Centre. The NB Tenants Advocate is NOT affiliated with the Government of New Brunswick.

Landlords forcing tenants to let prospective buyers into their units despite Level 3 restrictions

The NB Coalition for Tenants Rights has received information that landlords seeking to sell their properties are requiring tenants to permit prospective buyers into their units despite Level 3 public health restrictions being in place across the province.

We are currently limited to a single household bubble. Why are tenants being required to let strangers into their homes? Moreover, tenants have nowhere safe to go while their units are being shown.  Most public spaces are closed or have significantly limited capacity and Health Minister Dorothy Shephard has stated that New Brunswickers need to assume COVID is everywhere. 

The Coalition believes that this puts tenants at risk and undermines public health efforts to combat COVID-19. 

‘There is no reason why New Brunswick renters should be forced to put their lives at risk so that their landlord can close a real estate deal,’ said Jael Duarte, the Tenants Advocate for the NB Coalition for Tenants Rights.

We are urging immediate action from the Government of New Brunswick to protect tenants. Landlords should not be permitted to require tenants to allow strangers into their homes.

Statement of Solidarity with CUPE

The NB Coalition for Tenants Rights and ACORN-NB stand in solidarity with striking CUPE members. The work the unions and their members are undertaking to secure fair wages and benefits for nearly 22,000 public service workers is an important part of our collective efforts to ensure all New Brunswickers have the means to live securely and to thrive.