Cost Of Living Crisis: Time for a National Rent Control Policy.

Across Canada, rents are soaring while wages stagnate, pushing low-wage workers, seniors, and young people into increasingly precarious living situations. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) reports that in Winnipeg, the rental wage—the hourly wage required to afford a two-bedroom apartment without spending more than 30% of one’s income—now sits at $27.32/hr Meanwhile, Manitoba’s minimum wage lags far behind at $15.30. For minimum-wage earners, this means the first 116 hours of work every month—nearly three weeks of full-time labor—go straight to rent. This isn’t just an economic crisis. It’s a moral one.

Despite overwhelming evidence that rent control helps keep housing affordable, we constantly hear the same tired argument: that regulating rent discourages investment in new housing construction. The problem with this claim is that it prioritizes investor profits over national housing needs. When analysts argue against rent control, they aren’t focused on whether families can afford a safe place to live—they are focused on whether landlords and real estate developers find the market profitable enough to invest in. But housing shouldn’t be treated solely as a financial asset. It is a basic human necessity, and public policy must reflect that. We should never put investor profits over people's needs.

PRIVATE INVESTORS OWN 20% OF THE AVAILABLE UNITS. ( and growing)
Read that twice if you need to. I know I had to.
One of the biggest culprits behind rising rents is private equity firms. Unlike individual landlords or small property owners, private equity investors purchase large portfolios of rental units and aggressively push up rents to maximize returns for their shareholders. A recent report highlights that when private equity firms acquire rental properties, they often implement sharp rent hikes, reduce maintenance spending, and exploit weak tenant protections. This strategy increases profits at the expense of affordability, pushing long-term tenants out of their homes and making entire neighborhoods unaffordable for working-class people. The decision (or inaction)  by lawmakers to allow rental housing to be commodified and treated as just another asset —bought, flipped, and traded like stocks— has fueled this crisis, making housing less about shelter and more about extracting from renters who have nowhere else to turn. Commodifying rent is commodifying people.

More affordable rental units means less inflation AND more homeowners.

Rental inflation is a growing problem. In Canada, rent has become one of the biggest drivers of overall inflation, meaning that as rents rise, the cost of living skyrockets. With housing costs making up a large portion of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), it is nearly impossible to fight inflation while allowing rents to spiral out of control. The Bank of Canada continues to raise interest rates in an effort to slow inflation, yet these rate hikes also push more people into the rental market by making homeownership unattainable. This, in turn, drives rents even higher. Without policies to cap rental price increases, this cycle will continue to squeeze working-class Canadians, seniors and young people. In many cities, these bubbles are bursting, pushing out people who grew up in and love these communities. Gentrification makes thriving neighborhoods into unlivable ones, turning once-diverse areas into exclusive enclaves where only the wealthy can afford to stay.

In many provinces, annual rent increases have outpaced wage growth for over a decade, leaving workers in a perpetual struggle to keep up. For young people entering the workforce, saving for a home is just an impossible dream, and for seniors on fixed incomes, rent hikes can mean the difference between financial stability and homelessness.

Affordable Rent Makes Better Communities.

A National Rent Control policy would change this by setting universal guidelines for rental price increases, ensuring that landlords cannot raise rents arbitrarily or at rates far exceeding income growth. It would establish a fair balance between tenant protections and landlord rights while recognizing that housing is a fundamental need, not just an investment vehicle. Effective rent control doesn’t mean preventing landlords from making a profit—it means ensuring that those profits don’t come at the expense of the most vulnerable people in our society. Higher rents cause more poverty which also means more crime. If Conservatives want to be tough on crime they also should be tough on rent.

We need a framework that prioritizes affordability, security, and social well-being. The argument that rent control is bad for housing supply ignores the fact that corporate interests should not dictate national policy. Investors may look elsewhere if rental housing is no longer the cash cow they expect it to be, but the alternative—unchecked rent increases that displace families, seniors, and young workers—is far worse.

The federal government has recently approved enough incentives to keep construction moving, and they have a responsibility to act. Housing is a right, not a luxury, and it’s time to stop treating it as a speculative market. A National Rent Control policy isn’t just about capping rent increases; it’s about ensuring that every Canadian has access to stable, affordable housing. Without it, we are leaving the future of our communities in the hands of profit-driven corporations, rather than standing up for the people who live and work in them.

If we believe in a Canada where workers, seniors, and young people can afford a place to live, then we need a bold, unified solution. That solution is rent control—before it’s too late.

Sources:

• Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) - Rental Wages in Canada 2024 (policyalternatives.ca)

• Government of Manitoba - Rent Regulation Report (gov.mb.ca)

• Desjardins Economic Studies - Rent Inflation in Canada (desjardins.com)

• Kelowna Real Estate Blog - The Need for Rent Control in Canada (kelownarealestate.com)

• Real Estate Institute of Canada - Private Equity's Role in Rental Inflation (reic.ca)

Financial Post - Rent Control Debate in Canada (financialpost.com)