NDP misinformation on housing continues
For Immediate Release
October 15, 2021
Nova Scotia’s NDP continues to make things up in its misinformation campaign against more than 5,000 small- and medium-sized landlords in the province.
According to data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, prior to the introduction of the State of Emergency rent cap in November 2020, apartment rents increased by 4% from October 2019 to October 2020
“It is 100% false for Gary Burrill and the NDP to claim that rents have gone up 20%,” said Kevin Russell, executive director of Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia. “We renew our call for government to make housing policy decisions based on evidence, involving all partners. Rhetoric targeting landlords and spreading false information, as Nova Scotia landlords have seen from the NDP over the last year, is divisive and unproductive. We need leadership on a plan that will bring Nova Scotians together for housing solutions.”
The Affordable Housing Commission is a panel of experts of industry, academia, and non-profits. The Commission provided detailed instructions on the real solutions. None of these groups believe that rent control works to increase housing affordability. It behoves the government to follow the Commission recommendations first, rather than implementing a tool that has been shown by data time and again to not work.
“We will continue to engage all MLAs to implement housing solutions that work, not failed policies like rent control that make rent more expensive for tenants than in regulated free market jurisdictions,” said Russell. “But when politicians mislead about the sector, we will call those politicians out. Our sector includes investment property owners who are voters making a positive difference in our economy, employing Nova Scotians, and paying taxes.”
Statistics Canada figures show that rents in Nova Scotia’s free-market system increased by a lower rate over the last 20 years than in heavily regulated rent control jurisdictions like Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia.
Questions
C. Kevin Russell
E: kevin@ipoans.ca
T. 902.789.0946