Tenants needed help yesterday. Where is New Brunswick's promised rent bank?
No details, timeline available for government loans that could help renters stay afloat
Less than a year ago, she had full-time employment and an apartment of her own in the Saint John area. With two dogs, inflation and sky-rocketing grocery prices, Voutour's $60,000 annual salary was just enough to keep her head above water.
Now, she's living with family and struggling to find somewhere affordable to live in the fall.
"September is coming and I need to find a place and the price alone … I don't know what the solution is, but it's really, really sad."
Ashley Voutour is struggling to find affordable housing in the Saint John region for herself and two dogs, Gus and Willow. (Submitted by Ashley Voutour )
After being laid off from her job following the strike at the Canada Revenue Agency this spring, Voutour had to give up the two-bedroom apartment where she'd been paying $1,250 per month. Months after moving in with relatives in Quispamsis, it's time for her to start looking for her own place again.
But everything she's seeing is around $1,400 a month — a far cry from a two-bedroom apartment she had in 2019, where she paid $750. The other day, Voutour clicked on an advertisement to take over someone's lease and was shocked to find it would cost her more than $2,000 a month.
Including first and last month's rent, Voutour would need close to $3,000, at the minimum, to secure an apartment, not to mention moving expenses and start-up fees for wifi and utilities.
Not everyone has that kind of cash floating around, including Voutour, who tried without luck to see if some landlords would take a security deposit in instalments.
It's one of the barriers a rent bank, announced by New Brunswick's Department of Social Development earlier this summer, could help eradicate.
The province promised to spend $3 million over the next two years to help up to 750 households annually, including both families and individuals, avoid eviction or obtain new rental accommodations, a benefit designed for low-to-mid income earners.
The program was announced without a timeline, eligibility criteria or repayment terms. As recently as July 31, the province couldn't confirm when the rent bank will be available.
"The province and its partners continue to work together to finalize the details on the Rent Bank. Government understands the importance of this initiative and will take the time necessary to complete the work," a spokesperson for the Department of Social Development wrote in an email to CBC News.
The only additional detail the province could confirm is that the loans will be interest-free. The department did not respond to a request for an interview with Social Development Minister Jill Green.
For Tobin LeBlanc Haley, an assistant professor with the University of New Brunswick's sociology department who works with the N.B. Coalition for Tenants Rights, the well-publicized announcement paired with a lack of details is unsurprising.
"This is honestly, it's par for the course that we don't know what's going to happen yet," she said, adding details should be announced as soon as possible because "tenants needed access to support yesterday."
A rent bank is not a novel idea, Haley said, and provinces like Manitoba already have them in place.
University
of New Brunswick sociology professor Tobin LeBlanc Haley is a member of
the New Brunswick Coalition of Tenants Rights. She said a grant-based
system would be more beneficial than a loan-based rent bank. (Toronto Metropolitan University)
In Manitoba, interest-free loans can be repaid over a maximum of two years. Something similar could work in New Brunswick, Haley said, and payments could be as low as $25 a month. A better program, she added, would include forgivable loans or non-repayable grants.
"This is one of the worst iterations of the housing crisis we've seen," she said. "People are struggling to put food on the table, people are struggling to pay for daycare, to put gas in their car, for rent, so I think a grants system is better."
Manitoba's rent relief fund requires that the tenant has been able to pay their rent in the past, and the application requires proof of income. If a tenant is unemployed, the relief fund can instead be used to pay arrears.
A working professional
Nathan Peardon, a 29-year-old teacher moving to Fredericton after spending the summer in his home province of P.E.I., has been employed for the past six years in British Columbia after earning a degree from St. Thomas University.
He thought his $1,000 a month budget for rent would be reasonable for the Fredericton region. After looking at some of the prices, Peardon realized he would have to settle for shared accommodations with a family renting out a room.
"I almost find [it's] the better option with the current state of the rental market in Fredericton," he said. "Do I want to pay a ridiculous amount for rent, which is a significant percentage of my monthly salary?"
Luckily, Peardon has full-time employment and feels optimistic about his future. He lives within his means and hopes he won't have to spend his savings — which he'll ideally use for a house someday — on basic necessities.
The principle of the matter is worrying to him as someone who struggled to find affordable housing even as a working professional.
"I can't believe how these younger students are able to do that financially without going into financial crisis," he said.
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