Singh promises to protect tenants with national rent control

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is photographed after making an announcement on affordable housing during a federal election campaign stop in Toronto on Friday, March 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

HALIFAX — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is promising national rent control to protect tenants from unfair rent increases as he concludes a tour of Atlantic Canada.

Speaking in Halifax on Sunday, Singh said the federal government needs to “step up” to support people who are struggling to make rent.

“People are talking about how much their rent is costing them, how it takes up sometimes more than half of their income,” he said. “And that is wrong. People should be able to have a good place, a decent place that allows them enough money left over for them to save up, for them to pay the bills, for them to build for the future.”

The NDP says housing and rental prices in Canada have doubled since 2015. According to Rentals.ca, the average asking rent was $2,088 per month in February.

Singh said a government led by him would make tenant-protection policies a condition of federal housing money for provinces and municipalities.

“If any province or municipality wants federal investments … to build homes, they have to put in place laws that protect renters,” he said. “We’re not going to build affordable homes for those homes to just turn into unaffordable homes because there are no protections in place.”

Rent regulations vary widely by province. Ontario, for example, has a system of rent control that limits rent increases on units built before Nov. 15, 2018. In Alberta, there are no limits on annual rent increases.

Singh said the federal government has a role to play in ensuring that rental housing remains affordable and it would be a “bad investment” for Ottawa to fund housing that is out of reach for many renters.

The NDP says rent control could take various forms, including rent increase guidelines, bans on increases above guidelines and vacancy regulation.

The party says it would pass a renter’s bill of rights to enshrine in law the obligation to tie federal housing funds to rent-control measures.

Singh said an NDP government would also push provinces to ban so-called renovictions and fixed-term leases, which are lease agreements that don’t automatically renew beyond their set end date. Fixed-term leases have become a contentious issue in Nova Scotia, where housing advocates say they are used by landlords to increase rents.

The NDP also wants to prohibit the use of artificial intelligence to co-ordinate rent increases, and to recognize the right of tenant unions to negotiate with landlords.

A survey by Royal LePage released last year found that 53 per cent of Canadian renters were paying more than 30 per cent of their income on rent.

“Right now, people need some hope,” Singh said. “We want to make sure that people actually have protections.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 6, 2025.

The Canadian Press