Average Halifax Rent Rose 8.9 Percent Last Year, Despite Rent Cap
HALIFAX — The CMHC’s recently released report on the Canadian rental market shows just how bleak the situation is for renters in Halifax. Despite having a two percent rent cap in place, the average rent in the city increased by 8.9 percent in 2022. It was also extremely expensive for new tenants in 2022, since the rent cap lifts on a unit once it is vacated.
“Within the same structure, a two-bedroom unit occupied by a new tenant was on average 28 percent more expensive than one that did not turn over,” notes the report. “This rent disparity might be from renovated turnover units or property owners adjusting rents to market value because of higher operating costs.”
According to the report, the average cost of a two-bedroom apartment in Halifax was $1,449 by the end of 2022 — an increase of 9.3 percent. It also remained incredibly difficult for new renters to find an affordable place to rent, with vacancy rates hovering at a historic low of just one percent.
The unaffordability of rent has hit the younger generation particularly hard. According to the report, between 2016 and 2021, there were 22 percent more people aged 25-44 living with parents.
On the surface, it seems like plenty of new units entered the market last year. The report says that 1,201 new units were completed in 2022 but that number is the lowest yearly total in a survey since 2016. The CMHC notes that construction of new units has slowed in the past two years due to labour shortages and the higher costs of materials.
The Halifax rental market is extraordinarily bleak for the lowest-income earners. The CMHC claims that only three percent of the city’s rental market is geared towards people making $28,000 a year or less in income.
The low vacancy rates also mean there is pressure being put on these affordable units by renters making higher incomes.
“There is increased competition from higher-income households for the few units affordable to low-income households. Units affordable to low-income households have vacancy rates between 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent,” the report reads.
These statistics concerning lower-income earners prompted Katie Brousseau of Dalhousie Legal Aid Service to pen a press release urging more government action on the lack of affordable housing.
“One thing that is clear from this report is that we must see targeted efforts from all levels of government to rapidly increase the number of affordable rental units of both private and public housing,” reads the statement. “The increasing cost of living is having an impact on most households but it is low-income households who are feeling the biggest squeeze.”
In an interview with Huddle, Brousseau says the situation is “dire” for many of the desperate renters she sees every day.
“The report is really just confirming what we already know and what we’re seeing on a daily basis here at the clinic,” she said. “To be eligible for our services, you have to be within a certain income threshold. And we see that reflected in folks that are looking exclusively for affordable housing.”
“More tenants than ever in Nova Scotia are filing their own applications with [the residential tenancies board], even if it’s not an ideal, affordable, safe, or accessible units, out of desperation to just maintain any kind of housing. We’re seeing more folks coming to us looking for help with the process of just navigating the hearing process.”
Many people who have low, affordable, rents are living in older units. Brousseau says she is seeing a lot of clients who are trying to fight off renovictions as landlords try to upgrade the units before putting them back on the market.
“We work with a lot of folks on explaining the process and just making sure they know what their rights are when it comes to a renoviction. Specifically, because we’ve seen such an influx of those over the last year,” she explained.
“I don’t have a statistic for you on the rate of success when it goes to a hearing but what I can say with certainty is that you have a better chance at contesting a renoviction as opposed to voluntarily vacating. It can be successful because often there are no permits. And even if there are permits, they need to prove to a tenancy officer that the repairs are that extensive that [vacancy] is required.”
Brousseau has heard a lot of talk about increasing the rental stock in order to solve Halifax’s housing woes. But she believes there also must be a targeted effort to increase the stock of affordable housing.
“There’s not one solution or one fix that will address the housing crisis. We’ve heard a lot from our provincial government lately of this goal to increase housing stock across the province. What I would counter is that we need to see a targeted investment in affordable housing… Private sector-luxury condos will do nothing to fix the housing crisis.”
“And when I say affordable, I’m referring to 30 percent of someone’s income, at most, to rent and then a reinvestment in the upkeep and maintenance of existing public housing stock, plus an investment in the creation of new public housing.”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].