Petition updateRequire landlords to appear at House of Commons Review of Financialization & Rent GougingEnough is enough! STOP catastrophic rent increases in Calgary, across Alberta & across Canada.
Anne LandryCalgary, Canada
Sep 16, 2024

Enough is enough! STOP catastrophic rent increases in Calgary, across Alberta & across Canada. 

Thank you for signing the CHANGE.ORG petition Require landlords to appear at House of Commons Review of Financialization & Rent Gouging.

I have requested EMERGENCY MEETING(S) of the House of Commons HUMA* Committee/House of Commons to address the catastrophic rental accommodation inflation in Calgary and the growing HOUSING EMERGENCY in Calgary, across Alberta and across Canada.  

Perhaps you would like to contact the House of Commons HUMA Committee with your own concerns:  EMAIL HUMA@parl.gc.ca. Please see MORE contact information further BELOW.

See my BRIEF dated June 21, 2024 to the House of Commons HUMA Committee Review of Federal Housing Investments:  STOP THE HARM.  STOP THE LOSS. Have a “HART”! – IMMEDIATELY:

  •  Implement a NATIONAL RENT & EVICTION FREEZE.
  • LOWER RENT-GOUGED RENT.
  • Roll out a NATIONAL Have a “HART”! strategy/campaign to build/protect housing for low-and moderate- income households and most vulnerable as per the HART Housing Needs Assessment Tool.
  • SUMMON FINANCIALIZED LANDLORDS + DATA to the House of Commons HUMA Committee.

AND MORE!

See my BRIEF dated June 21, 2024 to the House of Commons HUMA Committee Review of Federal Housing Investments:

1.  The HOUSING EMERGENCY seems to be getting WORSE, NOT BETTER. See the VOICES of the growing HOUSING EMERGENCY in Calgary, across Alberta and across Canada in APPENDIX A – from comments to this CHANGE.ORG petition – at  https://www.change.org/p/summons-landlords-with-data-to-house-of-commons-review-on-financialization-rent-gouging/c.

2.  Calgary has experienced month-after-month of double-digit rental accommodation inflation in 2023 and 2024 – up to 18%+ year-over-year – the highest ever seen in Canada. This is TERRIFYING to many – including to seniors and the disabled.  See rented accommodation inflation in The City of Calgary Inflation Review and Statistics Canada.

3.  In Calgary, rent for a 1 bedroom apartment is now approximately ~$1,800 per month as per Rentals.ca – at a time that $1,050 per month is the affordable rent for a 1-person family as per the LEMR Tool.

4.  The housing market in Calgary is apparently in PROLONGED and CONTINUING DISFUNCTION:  housing demand will exceed housing supply from 2018 to 2028-2029.

5.  The apartment rental market in Calgary is apparently BROKEN:  in 2020 during COVID-19 at a time of HIGH VACANCY (6.6%) average apartment rents INCREASED, NOT DECREASED.

6.  Calgary had the highest rents of major cities in Canada in 2008 and 2014 and 2015, prior to recessions after the failure of the Alberta Government to implement rent caps that the majority of renters and home-owners in Calgary and Edmonton wanted. Don’t repeat past mistakes – see also APPENDIX B.  

7.  There is growing consensus among housing human right experts to STOP THE LOSS of affordable housing and curtail financialization of housing and implement tenant protections.

8.  Summon financialized landlords + DATA to the House of Commons HUMA Committee.  I echo a similar request made by Marie-Josée Houle Federal Housing Advocate before the House of Commons HUMA Committee Review of financialization of housing, rent gouging, renovictions and related issues on May 9, 2023 to account for their practices that undermine housing affordability, security of tenure and habitability.  See a LIST of Canada’s Biggest Landlords in APPENDIX D**.

9.  Did you notice “THE SECRET” at page 8 of my BRIEF dated June 21, 2024 to the House of Commons HUMA Committee Review of Federal Housing Investments?    “IT SEEMS TO BE A ‘SECRET’:   ‘…Many of the operating costs associated with multi-family real estate are static regardless of periods of cyclicality….’. (So why are rents by the HIGHLY profitable financialized landlords INCREASING  during a growing HOUSING EMERGENCY?) I  referred to this in my BRIEF dated May 26, 2023 to the House of Commons HUMA Committee Review regarding financialization of housing, rent gouging, renovictions and related issues – at page 4 of 9.”

10.  HOUSING is a HUMAN RIGHT as per the National Housing Strategy Act, 2019 - All Canadians have the RIGHT to adequate housing – see also in APPENDIX C.

 

I am a long-term renter in a financialized landlord in the Beltline community in Calgary, Alberta.  I would like my investment to be protected and to age in place.

I spoke a little about my own plight in my BRIEF dated June 21, 2024 to the House of Commons HUMA Committee Review of Federal Housing Investments – at pages 12-13, including (in part):

  • “…I have a disability - post traumatic stress. I have been unemployed in my career since the 2015 recession . I will soon be of retirement age.  Over the past 26+ years I have paid my landlord over $325,000 in rental payments and I would like my investment to be protected and to age in place. My landlord has increased my rental payment in 3 instalments by $335 per month (~31%) from January 1, 2023 to May 1, 2024  (~17 months). The Alberta Residential Tenancies Act provides few protections for tenants:  landlords can raise rental payments to tenants (existing and NEW) by as  much as they want, one time per year. What is the plan for maintenance in the building?  In late 2023 the garbage chutes were shut on each floor and tenants must now take uncompacted garbage to the outside garbage bins at the entrance-way to the parking lot…”

I have undertaken enormous efforts to remain housed  - including affordably and safely.  As I refer to in my BRIEF dated June 21, 2024 to the House of Commons HUMA Committee Review of Federal Housing Investments,  I have presented before The City of Calgary Council and have participated in the two national Reviews regarding financialization of housing and provided information and recommendations:

 

Recently in the media:  How “financialized” landlords may be contributing to rising rents in Canada – CBC – September 9, 2024.

 

Do you wish to contact the House of Commons HUMA* Committee with YOUR concerns?

 

Enough is enough!  HOUSING is a HUMAN RIGHT!  We can do this together! 

All the best,

 

Anne Landry

Calgary, Alberta

 

NOTES:

*HUMA Committee => House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

**See The Financialization of Multi-Family Rental Housing in Canada – A Report for the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate – Martine August – June 2022, including at page 5 - Figure 2: Canada’s Biggest Landlords 2021.  See also APPENDIX D. 

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