Fixed Term Leases - QP
THE SPEAKER : The honourable Leader of the New Democratic Party.
CLAUDIA CHENDER : Our five per cent rent cap is the highest in the country. Even so, some of Halifax's largest landlords report double-digit operating income growth in the first quarter of this year. These profits were largely driven up by unit turnover where fixed-term leases mean there is no limit to the rental increase allowed. In response, this government is working to make evictions faster and easier while protecting these profits.
I'd like to ask the Premier : How is this a balanced approach?
THE PREMIER : We are trying to strike a balance. Of course, the member is focused on the landlord part of it. These tenants are also neighbours. You want good neighbours in these buildings too. When somebody is being evicted, oftentimes it can be because they're not a good neighbour. We're trying to find this balance here.
The best way to tackle the cost of living, the best way to tackle the housing crisis is more housing, driving down the price of housing, driving down the price of rentals. That's why we're bringing down barriers to home construction. I'll tell you, Speaker, our plan is working. Housing starts are up. Our goal is 40,000 new homes. We're on track. We're building new homes. There are more homes today than there were in 2021, and we'll continue with our plan.
CLAUDIA CHENDER : Most people in this province are being evicted because there is a financial incentive to do so. With an 18.2 per cent increase in rental cost year over year, the 30 per cent of Nova Scotians who rent are desperate for some relief. They need rent control that is tied to the unit so that that financial incentive to evict them every 12 months goes away.
What is the Premier's message to renters, students, health care workers, families, and seniors who are struggling to keep up with these increasing costs?
THE PREMIER : The solution is more housing, more opportunities to rent different places. This is why we're focused on building more housing across the spectrum: student housing, affordable housing, public housing for the first time in years. We're making investments to make sure that the housing stock goes up.
When we think about the affordability crisis and the struggles that people have, I would urge the members opposite that if either party had a real concern about the cost of living, they would call on their federal cousins to scrap the carbon tax. That's a tax that will take $400 million out of the hands of Nova Scotians just this year alone. That is part of the solution. I ask them to call on their cousins to get rid of it.
CLAUDIA CHENDER : The truth, beyond the partisan talking points, is that this government has failed to address the rapidly growing homeless population during their term. It has now quadrupled in the three years that they have been in office. We have heard from advocates that fixed-term leases are a "key pathway to homelessness." Until this flow is turned off, these numbers will continue to rise.
Will this Premier commit today to tying this rent cap to the unit, ending the incentive to evict and ensuring that people today can stay in their homes?
THE PREMIER : Unlike past Liberal and NDP governments, we are making record investments in the housing stock in the province. The Liberals simply refused to invest, the NDP sat on literally tens of millions of dollars from the federal government and did nothing with it. Imagine where we'd be if they would have made those investments. We're making those investments.
I just want to remind the members, none of these problems happened overnight. We didn't break it, but we're fixing it. I'll just remind the member - I'll quote from former Nova Scotia NDP Cabinet Minister Maureen MacDonald. Maureen MacDonald said "there are no overnight quick solutions to the affordability and homelessness problem. Also the current situation is largely attributable to the policies of the federal Trudeau government."