‘Thank The Lord!’ Gracie Fogarty Celebrates N.S. Rent Cap
HALIFAX – “Oh, Thank the Lord!” Gracie Fogarty yelled into the phone when she heard from Huddle of the government’s decision to bring in a form of rent control earlier this week.
Fogarty became a poster-woman for rent control in Halifax back in October, when people learned of her plight. Last month, she received a notice from her landlord that her rent was going up by $650 in April, nearly double the $750 she currently pays for the one-bedroom apartment on Dutch Village Road. There was no way Fogarty, who makes a little more than minimum wage working at a gas station, could afford such a price increase.
Fogarty’s landlord, Navid Saberi, admitted to upping the rent in order to force Fogarty to move elsewhere. Saberi claims the apartment building needs major renovations, and Fogarty refused to vacate the premises.
“We have a 60-year-old building…and several units require upgrades…We have been working with these people for two years, trying to give them enough notice that we want to renovate, and they should find other accommodations,” said Saberi back in October. “Unfortunately, they are not doing that, and we have offered to move them to other units in the building and they have refused.”
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At the time, there was little Fogarty could do to combat the rent increase. The Nova Scotia Residential Tenancies Act doesn’t put a cap on rent increases. A landlord just has to give four months’ notice prior to the lease’s anniversary date.
But on Wednesday, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Chuck Porter made a surprise announcement that Nova Scotia would have a cap of two percent on rental increases. Also announced was a ban on “renovictions,” the practice of evicting tenants so a landlord can perform upgrades to a building. The order is in effect until the province’s state of emergency is over, or until February of 2022.
“I’m thrilled; I’m actually very, very happy,” said Fogarty. “I couldn’t be happier because I’ve tried to find apartments and there’s none to find that I can afford.”
RELATED: Rent Increases Capped At Two Percent Per Year In Nova Scotia
Before Wednesday, Fogarty was scared that she would end up homeless, due to the lack of affordable housing in Halifax.
“It’s an awful feeling because I’m not sleeping; I’m waking every couple hours trying to figure out what I do now,” she said.
Fogarty says, despite the media attention she received a month ago, she never had a follow up communication from Saberi about the rent increase. She also disputed Saberi’s past claims that he made generous offers in order to help tenants move out of the building, such as subsidizing rent if they moved to another apartment.
“He did not. Nothing from Saberi was sent to me…Not one word of that,” said Fogarty. “The only thing he offered me was to move me to a different floor. And he didn’t say it was free.”
Saberi did not respond to a request for comment by publication.
Now that there is a cap on rent increases, Fogarty feels as if the desperate pleas she and others made have finally been heard by those in power.
“There’s hope for us; they have heard us,” said Fogarty.
This is the second piece of good news Fogarty has received in the past month. When she first told her story, Fogarty told the media how she must spend $500 a month on her heart medication and other prescriptions.
A woman got in contact with Fogarty and told about a program called InnoviCares, that could cut the costs of her medication. Thanks to the kindness of this stranger, Fogarty now pays just $218 per month.
“Her husband had had a heart attack and she found this program online,” explains Fogarty. “She was a Godsend.”