NB Update: Rent cap will fail unless tied to unit, says prof | Labour perspective on Canada Post workers’ strike [video]

In this edition of the NB Update, we hear from activists who fought for the New Brunswick government to implement a rent cap.

The newly-elected government of Premier Susan Holt has introduced legislation to limit rent increases to three per cent annually. However, a sociologist who studies the housing market says the policy will fail to make housing affordable if rent control isn’t tied to the unit.

“I think the legislation, and the Liberals’ campaign promises, were intended to address the rapidly declining affordability of housing in New Brunswick,” said Matthew Hayes, a professor at St. Thomas University and spokesperson for the NB Coalition for Tenants’ Rights. “And if the goal is to really address that problem, this legislation lacks ambition.”

This episode also features an interview with Nichola Taylor, chair of NB ACORN, a membership-based community union of low- and moderate-income people. That group held rallies in Moncton and Fredericton on Friday calling on the government to “do rent control right” by introducing protections against bad-faith “landlord-use evictions,” among other measures.

This edition of the show also includes a labour perspective on the Canada Post workers’ strike and other news from social justice movements in New Brunswick.

The NB Update is a collaboration between the NB Media Co-op and CHCO TV.

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Stations and Users (CACTUS).