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Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Reverse changes to two-tier Rent Assist: prof who helped design program
One of the designers of Manitoba's Rent Assist program a decade ago says changes made under the former Tories need to be reversed in order for the NDP government's homelessness strategy to work. The program was set up by then-NDP premier Greg Selinger in 2014 to support people transitioning from 'welfare to work,' while also increasing benefits for those who rely on government supports for their income, said University of Manitoba economics and labour studies associate professor Jesse Hajer. In the years since, changes to the program have seen benefits clawed back, which has made it more difficult for low-income Manitobans to make ends meet, Hajer said. RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES University of Manitoba economics and labour studies associate professor Jesse Hajer says changes made to Manitoba's Rent Assist program under the former Tories need to be reversed in order for the NDP government's homelessness strategy to work. RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES University of Manitoba economics and labour studies associate professor Jesse Hajer says changes made to Manitoba's Rent Assist program under the former Tories need to be reversed in order for the NDP government's homelessness strategy to work. In a report released Thursday for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Hajer, who was on the planning and priorities committee of cabinet while Selinger was in power, noted the Rent Assist shortcomings will make it difficult for the NDP to meet its goal of ending chronic homelessness by 2031. The report calls on the province to reverse changes to Rent Assist made by the previous Progressive Conservative government that discriminated 'between the 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor, by introducing higher benefits for those not' on social assistance. 2015 $806 2016 $852 2017 $877 2018 $912 2019 $947 2020 $982 2021 $1,000 2022 $1,030 2023 $1,080 2024 $1,149 — source: CMHC Rental Market Survey 'Rent Assist is an important benefit with a wide reach in Manitoba,' Hajer said in an interview. 'Low-income Manitobans have been hurt the most by high inflation in recent years, including rapidly increasing rents.' Manitoba's Your Way Home strategy, unveiled in January, relies on moving people from encampments into social housing, while moving those in social housing into the private market. If those being moved out of social housing cannot afford private market rent, the strategy risks housing some while creating homelessness for others, the report says. When Brian Pallister's Tories came into power after the 2016 election, they increased the proportion of net income that people were expected to pay towards rent to 30 per cent from 25 per cent. A few years later, after calls for a Rent Assist increase, the province increased the percentage of median market rent to which Rent Assist was indexed to 77 per cent for those on social assistance and 80 per cent for low-income workers, essentially creating a two-tier program. Hajer said reversing those cuts and returning to a model where maximum benefits are the same for all eligible Rent Assist recipients would help a large amount of people quickly. In Winnipeg, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment has increased 35 per cent over the last decade, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Rental Market Survey shows. 'Until a massive amount of new social housing is built,' programs like Rent Assist are needed to keep the housing affordability crisis from getting worse, Hajer said. PC housing, homelessness and addictions critic Carrie Hiebert defended the stance of providing higher benefits to Manitobans not on social assistance. 'We are encouraging independence, resilience and empowerment,' Hiebert said in a statement. 'Our goal should always be to encourage a path forward for our families, friends and loved ones to make sure meaningful employment and secure housing are within their reach.' Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith was not available for an interview, but a prepared statement provided Friday said: 'Our government is investing in social housing, supporting renters, and ensuring Manitobans have safe, affordable, and dignified homes.' The statement noted the PCs cut Rent Assist while this year's provincial budget increased the program by $27.8 million. Hajer's report said in 2019, under the PCs, Rent Assist cash benefits to Manitoba's low-income renters increased to $140 million from $100 million, when the program was fully implemented by the NDP in 2016. Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. The government said Friday that it has restored the renter's tax credit cut and blamed the PCs for selling off social housing units. (The Tories sold 387 units to for-profit companies, including 374 units at 185 Smith St. for $16.2 million and 13 units at 356 Assiniboine Ave. for $1.45 million). 'Expanding the supply of non-market housing needs to be the priority,' said Right to Housing Coalition member and University of Winnipeg chair of urban and inner-city studies Prof. Shauna MacKinnon. 'Rent assist should not be the default and it should not be expanded in the absence of strong rent regulations,' said MacKinnon. 'It is too easy for landlords to increase rates to Rent Assist levels, which we know is happening and especially problematic for the lowest income renters who end up paying ridiculous rents for substandard housing.' Rent assist report Carol SandersLegislature reporter Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol. Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'It's going to hit people really hard': Housing N.W.T. hiking rent by hundreds of dollars for some units
Housing N.W.T. is increasing its rental rates by hundreds of dollars for residents in some of its units — and some tenants are saying it's a big financial hit for them, at the wrong time. "The bottom line is they're literally taking food out of people's mouths and putting it in their pocket. That's the general consensus," said Lisa Thurber, founder of the Tenants Association Northwest Territories. Housing N.W.T. owns and leases both market-rate units and subsidized units. The market units are relied on in smaller communities where housing options are limited, for nurses, teachers, RCMP, other critical workers and community members. The rent increases are only applicable to Housing N.W.T.'s market-rate units, and not its subsidized income-based public housing units. CBC News heard from tenants and from Thurber that the increases range from around $300 to more than $700 per month. Housing N.W.T. has confirmed the new rates but declined to say what the current market rates are. According to a rent increase notice obtained by CBC News, in Tulita the current monthly rent for a three-bedroom unit is $1,610; the new standardized rate will be $1,938 — an increase of $328 per month. The rent increases will come into effect in August. The last time rents were increased was in 2012, according to Housing N.W.T. Thurber said the rent hikes are coming at a time when many people in the North are barely making ends meet. "August is gonna hit, and it's going to hit people really hard, especially the single moms, the single parents out there that cannot take this hit," said Thurber. Thurber said she first heard from people receiving notices last week and quickly had over 20 messages from people in the territory saying they received one. She said the increases vary by community and the size of the unit. The 2024 CMHC Rental Market Survey found the average monthly rental rate in the N.W.T. to be $1,974. CBC News requested an interview with Housing N.W.T. but no one was available. In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for Housing N.W.T. wrote that notices will be sent to market-rent tenants by May 1. They said the increases are based on a scan of rental rates in the market, which included the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) annual report, and are meant to "ensure alignment with the private market." In the statement to CBC News, a Housing N.W.T. spokesperson said that updated rates are aligned to average market rates in Yellowknife, with a reduction adjustment of 10 per cent. They also noted that 'actual rates may vary slightly from those shown.' (Housing N.W.T.) The email also said that rent revenues are "crucial for program funding, especially with declining federal support." In March, Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek committed an additional $41.6 million in the territorial budget to Housing N.W.T., "to make much needed investments in public housing." Housing for teachers Rita Mueller, president of the N.W.T. Teachers' Association, says affordability and lack of available rental units in the North can drive teachers to work elsewhere. She's afraid that increasing rental rates right now is going to make that worse. "I think that we are going to lose a number of really dedicated teachers who would love to stay there, would love to continue working and serving in those communities, but just can't afford to do that," said Mueller. Mueller said the announcement also comes during an ongoing teacher shortage. "If they are fortunate enough to find available housing, often the cost of that rental unit is totally unaffordable, especially for our new and beginning teachers," she said. Rita Mueller, president of the N.W.T. Teachers' Association, worries that housing costs in the N.W.T., along with a national teacher shortage, is posing a real risk of educators leaving the North. (Submitted by Rita Mueller) Mueller said that for years teachers in N.W.T. communities have had to share rooms and smaller spaces with colleagues. She says that's also happening now in regional centres like Yellowknife. "It's not just about the rent going up. It's the ever-increasing costs of food and electricity and heating fuel and all of the expenses that all N.W.T. residents continuously face," said Mueller No rent cap in N.W.T. The N.W.T. doesn't have a cap on how much a landlord can increase rent each year, nor does Nunavut, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, or Nova Scotia. Manitoba froze rent increases in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, the province allowed a three-per-cent increase, and this year a 1.7-per-cent increase. The Yukon set its rent increase cap at two per cent this year. New Brunswick introduced a maximum rent increase policy this year. British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Prince Edward Island all have rent increase limits. Quebec has a rent regulation policy where a renter can refuse any proposed increase within one month of receiving notice of it. The N.W.T. government looked into implementing its own rental increase policy in 2023, after Thurber started a petition for one and former MLA Katrina Nokelby put forward a motion to the legislative assembly. Some city and territorial officials argued that a cap would hurt the market and therefore fewer new units might be built. Jay Macdonald is the territorial justice minister and would be responsible for any changes made to the N.W.T. Residential Tenancy Act. CBC News requested an interview with Macdonald, and N.W.T. Housing Minister Lucy Kuptana, but did not receive a response by the time of publishing.
CBC
01-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
'It's going to hit people really hard': Housing N.W.T. hiking rent by hundreds of dollars for some units
Social Sharing Housing N.W.T. is increasing its rental rates by hundreds of dollars for residents in some of its units — and some tenants are saying it's a big financial hit for them, at the wrong time. "The bottom line is they're literally taking food out of people's mouths and putting it in their pocket. That's the general consensus," said Lisa Thurber, founder of the Tenants Association Northwest Territories. Housing N.W.T. owns and leases both market-rate units and subsidized units. The market units are relied on in smaller communities where housing options are limited, for nurses, teachers, RCMP, other critical workers and community members. The rent increases are only applicable to Housing N.W.T.'s market-rate units, and not its subsidized income-based public housing units. CBC News heard from tenants and from Thurber that the increases range from around $300 to more than $700 per month. Housing N.W.T. has confirmed the new rates but declined to say what the current market rates are. According to a rent increase notice obtained by CBC News, in Tulita the current monthly rent for a three-bedroom unit is $1,610; the new standardized rate will be $1,938 — an increase of $328 per month. The rent increases will come into effect in August. The last time rents were increased was in 2012, according to Housing N.W.T. Thurber said the rent hikes are coming at a time when many people in the North are barely making ends meet. "August is gonna hit, and it's going to hit people really hard, especially the single moms, the single parents out there that cannot take this hit," said Thurber. Thurber said she first heard from people receiving notices last week and quickly had over 20 messages from people in the territory saying they received one. She said the increases vary by community and the size of the unit. The 2024 CMHC Rental Market Survey found the average monthly rental rate in the N.W.T. to be $1,974. CBC News requested an interview with Housing N.W.T. but no one was available. In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for Housing N.W.T. wrote that notices will be sent to market-rent tenants by May 1. They said the increases are based on a scan of rental rates in the market, which included the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) annual report, and are meant to "ensure alignment with the private market." The email also said that rent revenues are "crucial for program funding, especially with declining federal support." In March, Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek committed an additional $41.6 million in the territorial budget to Housing N.W.T., "to make much needed investments in public housing." Housing for teachers Rita Mueller, president of the N.W.T. Teachers' Association, says affordability and lack of available rental units in the North can drive teachers to work elsewhere. She's afraid that increasing rental rates right now is going to make that worse. "I think that we are going to lose a number of really dedicated teachers who would love to stay there, would love to continue working and serving in those communities, but just can't afford to do that," said Mueller. Mueller said the announcement also comes during an ongoing teacher shortage. "If they are fortunate enough to find available housing, often the cost of that rental unit is totally unaffordable, especially for our new and beginning teachers," she said. Mueller said that for years teachers in N.W.T. communities have had to share rooms and smaller spaces with colleagues. She says that's also happening now in regional centres like Yellowknife. "It's not just about the rent going up. It's the ever-increasing costs of food and electricity and heating fuel and all of the expenses that all N.W.T. residents continuously face," said Mueller No rent cap in N.W.T. The N.W.T. doesn't have a cap on how much a landlord can increase rent each year, nor does Nunavut, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, or Nova Scotia. Manitoba froze rent increases in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, the province allowed a three-per-cent increase, and this year a 1.7-per-cent increase. The Yukon set its rent increase cap at two per cent this year. New Brunswick introduced a maximum rent increase policy this year. British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Prince Edward Island all have rent increase limits. Quebec has a rent regulation policy where a renter can refuse any proposed increase within one month of receiving notice of it. The N.W.T. government looked into implementing its own rental increase policy in 2023, after Thurber started a petition for one and former MLA Katrina Nokelby put forward a motion to the legislative assembly. Some city and territorial officials argued that a cap would hurt the market and therefore fewer new units might be built.
