FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NOVEMBER 1, 2022
Rent Caps a Slap in the Face to Residential Rental Sector
Charlottetown: November 1, 2022: The King Government’s unilateral decision to overrule a regulatory body and give residential property owners a zero percent increase in the face of record setting inflation is incomprehensible, says Residential Rental Association of PEI (RRAP) President, Parker Perry.
PEI has been identified as having the highest inflation in Canada. As such, it is only probable that rental costs would increase accordingly. PEI is a rent controlled jurisdiction that recently saw IRAC, a quasi-judicial body, award a 5.2%-10.8 % increase to landlords based on actual inflation costs. Government has capped these increases at zero, expecting the private sector to bear all the costs of PEI’s record
setting inflation. Thus far, the minister has offered nothing but platitudes as to how government will assist landlords dealing with record cost increases. Moreover, he has proposed massive building targets to increase supply with no plan.
“The Minister seems to think that PEI’s vacancy rate can be pushed to 4% with a massive increase in construction resulting from ill-defined subsidies in a sector which is currently working at full capacity.”
The zero percent increase stands in stark contrast to discussions the sector had with the Minister less than a week ago where he indicated a strong recognition of the challenges faced by the sector.
“We had what we thought was a productive discussion with the Minister about the importance of increasing the supply of housing. The Minister is incredibly naïve to think he can build his way out of the housing crisis when his government has completely alienated developers and the construction industry has no capacity to build more units in the near term. Full stop.”
“A zero increase in the face of skyrocketing costs is a slap in the face to the residential rental sector,” said Perry.