For Immediate Release
May 18, 2022
Rental housing providers crushed by inflation need emergency help
New inflation figures from Statistics Canada are the latest sign that rental housing providers need immediate emergency help from the Nova Scotia government.
Statistics Canada announced today that Nova Scotia’s inflation rate increased year over year by 7.1%.
“Everything is more expensive in owning and operating buildings that provide affordable rental housing for Nova Scotians. Wages, energy, insurance, taxes, supplies – all going up and up and up. Nova Scotia’s 2% rent cap means small rental housing providers have no way to recover these skyrocketing costs,” said Kevin Russell, Executive Director of the Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia. “Every other industry – regulated and unregulated – gets to recover their costs, but rental housing providers do not. We need more than sympathy from the government, we need them to immediately sit down with us to identify solutions to help small rental housing providers.”
Russell noted that 97% of revenue for rental housing providers comes from rent. A 2% rent cap, without compensation or other measures to help the financial position of the small businesspeople that own rental housing units, is causing major financial distress for thousands of Nova Scotians in the rental housing sector.
“Every other business in this province has the ability to deal with inflationary pressures, except small rental housing providers,” said Amanda Knight, who owns and operates rental units in Pictou County, Colchester County and Antigonish County. “It’s why I am selling some of my properties because I can no longer afford to keep them in a high inflation, rent capped market. Once small rental housing providers sell, properties return to the market as single-family homes removing affordable housing units from the market, putting tenants at risk of homelessness. Government must come to the table and work with us on solutions to increase Nova Scotia’s affordable rental housing supply.”
IPOANS has been the voice of private sector rental housing providers since 1978. IPOANS members own and operate approximately 45,000 rental housing units across Nova Scotia.
Contact:
Kevin Russell
902.789.0946
kevin@ipoans.ca