Province rejects rent control as NDP highlight senior struggles

A group of seniors is calling on the Provincial Government to implement rent control in the province. Wayne Mantyka has more.

The Saskatchewan NDP are calling on the province to consider rent control as seniors in Regina reportedly struggle with rising housing costs.

The Official Opposition raised the issue during question period on Monday, claiming that rent has increased consistently over the past eight months.

A recent report from Rentals.ca shows the average rental price in Saskatchewan sitting around $1,400 month.

Despite being the most affordable province to rent in, prices in Saskatchewan are 28.5 per cent higher than they were three years ago, according to the data.

• Saskatchewan seeing an increase in rent, according to new report

NDP MLA April ChiefCalf cited the plight of seniors in Regina while speaking with reporters following question period. One of the residents who appeared was Roger Derby.

Derby, who has collected the signatures of 60 of his neighbours in support of rent control, claims his rent has increased 31.8 per cent since moving into his east-end Regina apartment in 2021.

“I’m on a fixed income and so are most of the people in my building. We didn’t earn enough back then to put into our pension to afford the rent increases of today,” he said. “They tell you if you don’t like it you can move, but moving is costly and stressful, especially for seniors. That’s why we look to governments to help.”

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Finance minister Jim Reiter defended the province’s argument that rent control simply does not work.

“While we’re certainly sensitive to what’s happening in inflationary pressures right across the place, including rent control, we don’t believe that that’s the way,” he said. “It doesn’t work. It actually ends up backfiring. It ends up causing less investment in housing and causes rents to come under more pressure.”

Reiter said the province will continue its approach of encouraging investment and getting more housing units on the market, adding that related policies like the secondary suite incentive “are working.”

In extreme cases, Reiter said those who qualify can be assisted by social services in the short-term.

“But the long-term solution is, what’s important here, that’s to get more investment, to get more units on the market.”