My question is to the Premier. Nikki has lived in a rental home for two years. She pays $1,995 for a 600-square-foot basement apartment. Earlier this month, her landlord slapped her with a $200 rent increase, and now Nikki can no longer afford to pay the rent. This unaffordable rent increase is allowed because this government scrapped rent control on new units.

As more and more people in Ontario are struggling to pay the rent, what is this government’s plan to make rent affordable now?

Back to the Premier: It is alarming to learn that Toronto’s average rent price has passed the $3,000-a-month barrier for the first time ever, approximately 13.8% up from the previous year. This is shocking. This massive rent spike is a clear distress signal that our housing affordability crisis is getting worse and the Conservatives’ plan is not working.

The NDP is bringing forward a motion this afternoon to bring in real rent control on all homes to provide immediate financial relief to Ontarians, 1.5 million renter households. My question is to the Premier: Will this government support our motion?

Interjections.

I move that, whereas there is a cost-of-living crisis in Ontario; and

Whereas the cost of rent has increased to more than 50% of the take-home income for many Ontario households; and

Whereas the removal of all rent control from homes first occupied after 2018 has exposed tenants to unaffordable double-digit rent increases; and

Whereas the ability to increase rent between tenancies accelerates the rising cost of rent and incentivizes illegal evictions; and

Whereas housing is a human right;

Therefore, the Legislative Assembly calls on the government to implement rent control on all units, including between tenancies.

I have been travelling around the province, and here’s what I can tell you: In big cities, small towns, rural and urban communities all across this province, Ontarians are hurting from a historic cost-of-living increase.

En début de semaine, le Toronto Star a rapporté que les loyers dans la région du grand Toronto ont atteint 3 000 $ pour la première fois au cours du premier trimestre de cette année. Il s’agit du sixième trimestre consécutif au cours duquel les loyers de la région de Toronto ont connu des augmentations à deux chiffres d’une année sur l’autre. Trois mille par mois, c’est plus qu’inabordable; c’est alarmant et anormal.

This is not just about Toronto or the GTA; it’s happening all across this province. Pour de nombreux Ontariens, le loyer représente 50 % ou plus de leur revenu mensuel net—50% or more of their rent, and I can tell you in many cases it’s far more. Telle est la réalité de la crise du logement de l’Ontario.

Young working professionals, families and seniors are being pushed out of their communities—communities that have their support networks, their friends and families—and forced into smaller and smaller units, simply to be able to put a roof over their heads.

De plus en plus de personnes se retrouvent sans logement. La vérité est que la crise du logement en Ontario et la réalité à laquelle les Ontariens sont confrontés sont complètement ignorées par ce gouvernement. Ils sont déconnectés et n’ont aucune idée de ce à quoi la population de l’Ontario est confrontée.

The truth is that Ontario’s housing crisis and the reality that regular Ontarians are facing is completely being ignored by this government. They are out of touch, and they have no idea what the people of this province are facing. When the Ford government took over in 2018, they made it easier to increase rent between tenancies, further incentivizing illegal evictions and accelerating the already rising cost of housing. They actually took away rent control for newer units.

The Ontario NDP has put forward and continues to put forward practical, proven solutions that will help Ontarians as the province faces this housing crisis. We’ve called for ending exclusionary zoning—it’s an obvious one—investing in construction of affordable homes, and putting an end to speculation from rich or greedy developers taking advantage of the crisis that we are facing and that is making it impossible for Ontarians to find a safe place to live.

Nicole, a tenant in my community, pays almost two grand for a basement apartment, but it’s in a community that she loves, close to her family and friends. But because of Ontario’s lax rules when it comes to rent control, she and many of her fellow community members are seeing $200-to-$300 increases—an almost 10% increase. People are being forced out of their communities because of skyrocketing, out-of-control rent hikes.

Cette situation n’est pas viable. Ce gouvernement parle constamment de la croissance de la province et de la nécessité d’augmenter le nombre de logements. Pourtant, il ne s’attaque pas à certains des problèmes fondamentaux qui sont au coeur de cette crise de l’accessibilité au logement.

Instead, their failing housing policies only seek to line the pockets of wealthy developers and insiders. We see it again and again and again.

We are calling for a practical and achievable solution to start addressing the housing crisis in this province. Implement rent control on all units, including between tenancies. It’s one simple and practical but ultimately important solution to help make sure that no one else in Ontario is rendered homeless or in poverty as they struggle to afford a place to live. It’s really not too much to ask. People in this province are struggling. This is a solution that would help so many out there.

We don’t introduce these motions lightly. We know that what we are putting forward is doable. That’s why we bring it forward. We expected—we hoped—the government would come forward in their budget with something like this, that would actually help people at a time when they’re really struggling.

I can tell you, Speaker, everywhere I go in this province, as I said at the beginning, in every corner of this province, this is a crisis. I mentioned it before: I go to one small community and they say, “You think the housing crisis is bad over there? No, no, no, it’s worse right here.” I go to another community and they say, “They think they’ve got it bad? You should see what it’s like here.” From North Bay to Barrie, from Timmins to Welland to Brampton to Ottawa and everywhere in between, people in this province are struggling.

This is something tangible that this government could do right now to help so many people who are falling behind. Ontario does deserve a government that supports them when times get tough. They deserve for everyone in this chamber to be supporting this motion.

With that, I urge the government to support this motion and help so many Ontarians who are falling behind.

I’m very pleased to have the chance to rise today and talk about this very important issue, and also to clarify for the House and for Ontarians the important work that our government is doing to make life more affordable for the 1.7 million Ontario households that rent.

We know that finding a place to rent at a price that’s attainable can be challenging for Ontarians, particularly in these times of record inflation. But we also know that the issue that is at the very heart of this difficulty is a lack of supply. This, more than anything else, is the root of the problem facing Ontarians—that there simply is just not enough rental housing to go around.

This isn’t a new problem. I’m sorry to report to the previous two speakers that previous governments simply didn’t care enough about the issue of rental housing supply. For a decade and a half, the supply crisis has gotten worse and worse and ordinary, hard-working Ontarians were left to pick up the tab. Prices rose sky-high, and new purpose-built rental buildings just simply weren’t being built, and that was a huge problem. Instead, what we saw in Ontario was a stagnation of supply, and more and more renters were left struggling to make do.

From the very first day that our government was elected, we decided to take a different approach. Rather than sit on our hands and watch hard-working Ontarians get squeezed out of the rental market, we decided, as a government, to act. On day one, the very first question that I received in this House was about supply and the fact that the government needed to work collaboratively to increase the supply of housing. We went to the polls in June of last year. We made rental housing policy such a central part of that plan of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.

In our third housing supply action plan, More Homes, Built Faster, we decided to make the cost of building purpose-built rentals cheaper. We know from the report of the Housing Affordability Task Force that one of the biggest factors that’s driving up the cost of new homes is municipal fees. That’s why we decided to reduce fees—and, in rental’s case, up to 25% for purpose-built rentals, with the highest discounts in that bill were family-friendly units.

I’ve had the opportunity to hear about the impacts of the policy that the government made first-hand. I’m very pleased to let the members of the House know this afternoon what I’ve heard. Thanks to the measures that our government has put forward, under the leadership of Premier Ford, we’re getting shovels in the ground.

I’m just going to use one example. Today in the city of Toronto, there are more active cranes in the sky in this city than there are in New York, Chicago, LA, Washington, DC, Seattle, and San Francisco combined—fantastic news. Clearly, Ontario’s economy and Ontario’s future is a good bet for investment and for future growth.

I said this two or three times this morning in question period: In 2021, our province broke ground on a record number of housing starts. On the housing start side, there were 100,000 housing starts in only 12 months, which was the highest level that the government had seen since 1987. The next year, 2022, we maintained our success, where we saw the second-highest number of housing starts since 1988, which was 96,000 new home starts—again, this is 30% higher than the annual 65,000 home average that the province has received in the last 20 years.

I think it’s really important for us to note this afternoon that many of those cranes in the sky in Toronto, as well as elsewhere in our province, are building exactly the type of housing we need most: more purpose-built rental.

Last year, rental housing starts reached the highest level in Ontario’s history—despite the heckles from across the way—of nearly 15,000 starts.

According to data from March, rental housing starts are up 211% in Ontario compared to the same time last year. This is fantastic news for renters, because only dedicated action and perseverance is going to get us to a place where there are enough rental homes to go around.

The evidence is clear: Our plan is working. But we’re not going to stop there, because we know more supply is needed and because we know renters need that security and stability in their homes.

Our government’s latest housing supply action plan, Bill 97, the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023, is geared towards further laying the foundation for growth, while expanding on protections for renters and for homebuyers. In it, we are proposing greater legal protection for tenants facing renovictions. When evicting a tenant to renovate a unit, we are proposing that landlords would be required to provide a report from a qualified third party stating that the unit must be vacant for renovations to take place. In addition, we would require further updates on the status of renovations in writing. Landlords would be required to provide a 60-day grace period for the tenant to move back in once the renovations are complete—and we’re proposing greater legal protection for tenants who face renovictions. This is something that we’ve heard in the House and heard as part of our consultations.

When evicting a tenant to use the unit themselves or for their family, the landlord would have to move into the unit by a determined timeline. This is something that has been a bit ambiguous in the Residential Tenancies Act. By failing to move into the unit within the determined time frame, the landlord would be presumed to have acted in bad faith, and the application could be made, then, by the tenant to the Landlord and Tenant Board.

The proposed changes that we’re making would effectively double the maximum fines under the Residential Tenancies Act, increasing them to a maximum of $100,000 for individuals, $500,000 for corporations. This sends a very, very strong message to bad actors that violations of the Residential Tenancies Act will not be tolerated. It also builds on the bold action we took during the pandemic to protect tenants. Our government froze rents and evictions to provide security and stability to renters in an unprecedented situation. And since then, we’ve taken a balanced approach that puts the interest of renters front and centre. That’s why, for instance, in times of record inflation, we capped rent increases for most rental units in the province at 2.5%, while ensuring that there is still enough opportunity to build new rental accommodation in the province.

My hope is that the parties opposite will recognize the historic opportunity our government has created here—an opportunity for us to stand up for renters—instead of opposing for the fourth time in a row a housing supply action plan that has been endorsed by the people of Ontario, that prioritizes the needs of renters. I hope that the opposition parties will recognize that they need to act productively and collaboratively.

Ontario is becoming the number one jurisdiction for businesses, for jobs, and for newcomers. Cranes are in the sky, shovels are in the ground, and our government is laser-focused on tackling the supply crisis and is hitting the ground running to build 1.5 million homes by 2031.

I can tell you, Madam Speaker, with absolute certainty that we are not going to waver in our efforts to deliver the homes that Ontarians need. We know that the fundamental factor driving rents out of reach for Ontarians is a lack of supply, and we will keep fighting to build those homes that Ontarians need.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, for letting me kick off our government’s response to the opposition day motion.

I’ll withdraw.

We had the highest construction of purpose-built rentals that we have seen in this province to date.

When there has been no rent control on new buildings, such as what we had under the previous Liberal government and what we have here—we have seen a reduction in rent control.

What we also know is that there are very effective ways to stimulate purpose-built rental construction and more affordable homes in Ontario that don’t involve holding up renters and saying, “You’re going to be the sacrificial lamb for us to tackle the housing affordability crisis. You’re the victims of the crisis. We’re going to make you suffer for the solutions.” That is not a good solution for Ontario today.

I urge you to look at better ways to address our housing supply crisis than making life even more expensive for renters, because they’ve had enough.

It’s an honour to rise to participate in this debate because the housing affordability crisis is at a complete breaking point.

Last week, it was reported that in the first quarter of this year, average rents in the GTA for purpose-built apartments hit $3,000 for the first time, the sixth straight double-digit, year-over-year increase in the Toronto area—and it’s not just Toronto; it’s literally cities all over the province. In my own riding, average rent for a one-bedroom apartment hit $2,085 at the end of last year; that’s up 22.4%.

It is heartbreaking to see so many Ontarians with jobs, like nurses, teachers, retail workers and so many others, struggling to be able to find an affordable place to live in the communities they want to live in, where they work in, being forced to spend well over 30% of their income just on housing—let alone minimum wage workers and people who are living in legislated poverty because this government refuses to raise social assistance rates.

Advocates on the front lines have been telling us for decades now that we have to invest in homes that people can actually afford. According to the Daily Bread Food Bank Who’s Hungry Report, 87% of their clients are living in housing that is completely unaffordable; seven in 10 were paying half of their income—imagine that, Speaker—just on rent; and 18% were paying all of their income just on rent. Imagine how you afford sky-high food prices and so many other expenses in a day-to-day life.

Let’s be clear: The government’s expensive sprawl agenda will not solve the housing affordability crisis. It’s too expensive for municipalities, who simply can’t afford the cost of servicing sprawl, and it’s too expensive for people and families, who simply cannot afford the long, expensive, soul-crushing commutes this government is imposing on them.

That’s why we actually have to invest in homes that people can afford. That’s exactly why the Ontario Greens housing affordability plan, which some have called a master class plan in delivering the solutions we need—that’s why we’ve introduced Bill 44 and Bill 45, to end exclusionary zoning and build the gentle density and missing middle housing supply in homes that people can actually afford, in communities they want to live in.

That’s why we’re working so hard to end speculation in the housing market—because homes should be for people, not speculators.

That’s why I support this motion to bring in rent control, to bring back what this government took away—and not just rent control on units, but rent control between tenants, within units, so we have vacancy control, to get rid of the incentives for landlords to renovict and push their tenants out just so they can jack up rates even higher.

Speaker, we also need to have an honest conversation at all three levels of government. Up until 1995, in the 1970s and 1980s and early 1990s, 15,000 to 20,000 housing starts in this country every single year were government-supported non-profit and co-op housing that people could actually afford. So we’re not going to solve this problem with supply alone—even though I’ve put forward numerous solutions to increase affordable supply within the communities that people want to live in. That alone, if we’re going to be honest, is not going to solve the problem. We need both the federal government and the provincial government to come back to the table with the financial supports to help non-profit and co-op housing providers build the deeply affordable homes that people need to be able to survive month to month, to stabilize their lives.

Finally, we’re going to need government to come up with more than $202 million if we’re actually going to build permanent supportive housing with wraparound mental health and addictions supports to support people in our communities, because we know that every $10 invested in supportive housing saves government $22 in services.

Those are the solutions we need. That’s what we need to fight for for the people of this province.

Listening to the debate this afternoon, I am astounded by the arrogance and the hubris of some of these speeches, because it demonstrates such a stark and painful disconnect that this government has with the people of this province.

In Q1 of 2023, rents are now at $3,002 for a one-bedroom apartment in the city of Toronto. The only rent that hasn’t really gone past $2,000 are micro-units, which is 350 square feet. Most of our offices are bigger than micro-units at $2,000 month.

Just a few headlines: “A ‘Landlord Market’ Is Keeping Rents High in Waterloo Region, Says Realtor.” One person came forward, and her rent has gone from $1,750 to $2,750. An increase of $1,000 per month is this government’s legacy.

Another headline: “Landlord Doubles Rent for Syrian Refugees Using Exemption that Allows for Unlimited Increases.” This is an example—and I hope the minister is listening. The lack of rent control in the province of Ontario is hitting our most vulnerable people. This family are refugees from Syria. Imagine going through hell and then coming to Canada, and then to the province of Ontario, to be renovicted from your townhome. This landlord is increasing the rent from $2,000 a month to $4,000 a month. The family, whose income is only $4,000—so their entire income now must go to rent.

Another headline: “Tenants at Kitchener Complex Told to Move by End of April, But They’re Fighting to Stay.” The renoviction loophole is real, and this government has known it for five years. These are 14 tenants who are paying market value for their units. But of course, greed rules in the province of Ontario. They make a point—and this is a direct quote from the article: “If it’s up to tenants to enforce these punishments, then the landlords will keep getting away with it because tenants are already exhausted, especially if they’re going through renoviction. And to file” cases “with the Landlord and Tenant Board is an exhausting and stressful process.” Also, it’s a two-year wait to get justice at the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Finally, the Waterloo region is seeing a lack of rent control on vacant units, which creates a financial incentive for landlords to evict long-term tenants, many of whom pay below market rates. These are predominantly, in Waterloo region, senior women.

I do want to say: The government has talked about affordability, has ruled out real rent control in Ontario, and they keep raising the carbon tax. Well, the reason we have the carbon tax in the province of Ontario is because this Premier cancelled cap-and-trade. He repealed cap-and-trade in 2018. Because this province has no plan around pricing pollution, we ended up with a carbon tax, so on this side of the House we just think of it as the Ford carbon tax.

It’s always an honour to rise to speak on behalf of the good people of Toronto Centre.

I want to invite all the members of this House to go for a 20-minute walk with me. If you go for a 20-minute walk, you’re actually going to land right in the middle of St. James Town. It’s one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in all of Canada. Its density is 18 times that of any neighbourhood in Toronto. There are over 14,000 people who call St. James Town home, and the average household income is just $20,000. What we don’t have over there is a lot of money, but we have a lot of heart. Over 64% of people who live in St. James Town are newcomers. Neighbours know each other, kids play across the hallway with other children, and seniors will often take care of each other to break social isolation. This is a true neighbourhood.

It’s also an amazing place to live because of—make no mistake about it—rent control. Most of those buildings in St. James Town—the majority of them, until recently—have been under rent control.

The Conservative ideological opposition to real rent control and their slavish devotion to serving big landlords has actually created a condition now in St. James Town that is leading to much further harm. We’re seeing older buildings that are rent-controlled being demolished and replaced with new buildings without rent control, and what we’re now seeing is a lot of residents who are calling my office because they’re scared.

Most recently, a constituent whose name is Angela called my office to tell me that her rent under this government is going up 20%—20%. She’s getting a rent hike of $400. She and her fiancée are now struggling with the decision of whether or not they stay or they go. This is an untenable situation that is about to hit all the residents in that same building, and they are literally scared. They have no place to go without help from this government, which includes the implementation and the support of this motion of real rent control.

Paving over the greenbelt is not going to increase affordability of housing in Ontario, and neither is the government’s housing plan. They have failed to be able to address the housing crisis in Ontario. Things are getting more expensive and much worse for all Ontarians. Speaker, $3,000 for a one-bedroom apartment is untenable. I’ve lived in Toronto for all of my life in Canada. It is the worst that it has ever been, and this government is in charge of all of that.

This is a party, on this side of the House, where we are putting forward some real solutions; we’ve asked the government to come forward with their own. Their policies have failed; we have others. You can say yes to ending exclusionary zoning. You can say yes to investing in affordable housing, such as public, co-op and supportive housing. You can say yes to clamping down on greedy speculators. And yes, you can say yes to rent control—rent control that is desperately needed right now, right here for your tenants, for your constituents, and for mine.

I’m very proud to rise in support of the NDP motion to implement rent control on all units.

Speaker, this government’s decision to remove rent control from units built after 2018 and to stand by as tenants are pressured to move out of their units so that landlords can jack up rents by any amount they want is making life difficult for many in London West, but especially for those on fixed incomes, like seniors and people on social assistance.

Patricia Jones is a senior who called my office because her anxiety about rent increases is keeping her up at night. She currently pays over $1,400 per month for her apartment, which is unaffordable on her fixed income. She has looked for cheaper alternatives, but with the average one-bedroom rent in London almost $1,800 per month, she cannot find any rentals in decent condition to move to. Without real rent control, Patricia says she will not be able to afford more rent increases, and she doesn’t know where she will live.

Another senior, Dave Clark, contacted my office to say that seniors do not get pay increases: “I have not received a raise on my company pension since I retired in 2011.... It’s very unfair to have some buildings under rent control and not the latest-built units.” Dave has done everything he can to reduce his housing costs, including selling his house and moving to a newer apartment, but the lack of rent control on that unit means that his budget is uncomfortably tight every month.

London West constituent Anita Zahn has a son on ODSP who pays 98% of his monthly budget on housing. She says, “There is no money for food, bills, medications, clothing, transportation. Nothing. He is always 25 cents away from being homeless.”

Speaker, rentals.ca just reported that rent for a one-bedroom apartment in London has increased 27% year over year. It’s the second-biggest jump in the province. How can Londoners living on fixed incomes be expected to absorb that increase? The reality is that they can’t, which is a big part of the reason that London has found itself in a very deep and serious affordable housing crisis. There is a real lack of housing options that meet the needs of seniors like Patricia and Dave, and others living on fixed incomes, like Anita’s son.

Speaker, housing is a human right. Londoners need housing they can afford. They need real rent control so they don’t have to live in fear of losing their home when the next rent increase comes.

I call on all members of this House to support our motion today.

I want to start by thanking the leader of the official opposition for bringing this motion forward, because housing affordability has been an increasingly pressing issue in my own riding of Ottawa, like it is in the rest of the province, frankly. The government has been bringing forward various housing bills, but none with solutions to address unjustified and abusive rent increases. In my riding, more and more people are contacting my office, either because they are struggling to find affordable rental housing or because they are victims of abusive landlords.

Colin Nielson told me, “I am a single man and I work a decent job. I try my best to save and I live an extremely frugal lifestyle. I just received notice from my landlord, a multi-million dollar company, that my rent in June was increasing by a full 7%.

“I am seriously concerned about my ability to support myself going forward due to these increases. This time it was only 7%, next time what will it be?”

David-Michel Sarrazin told me, “Realstar corporation ... has started to charge an extra fee over and above the 2.5% allowable rent increase by the provincial government. Some are seeing an extra increase of up to 5% on their newly increased rents for 2023. Realstar is calling” it “an update and maintenance fee.

“Is this some new law giving landlords the legal rights to raise rent by 7.5%?”

Madeleine Brownrigg said, “I am a concerned citizen with a family member who cannot find affordable housing in this region. This crisis started with the abolishment of rent control for buildings that were built after 2018, among other things. It would be nice if this law was reversed so that people don’t need to go to the food bank to eat, or live where it does not suit their requirements, or are left having to work two jobs....”

These stories demonstrate just how unaffordable rental prices are becoming for people in Ottawa–Vanier, and I am sure many members on both sides of this House have heard similar stories from their own ridings. Ontarians are finding it increasingly difficult to find a rental unit that they can afford even when making a decent income.

Rent control is one measure that the government has as its disposal to help relieve some of the pressure on renters and give them some certainty for the coming years.

This government has focused a lot on the supply side of the equation, but because housing is a necessity, Ontarians are forced to make difficult choices when the rent market becomes too expensive. They may make other choices on budget items, like giving up on children’s recreational activities or food. We’ve seen this play out in recent years, with the demand for food banks skyrocketing and a greater proportion of families cutting down on their grocery bills in order to pay their rent.

The fact that housing is a necessity, coupled with the lack of rental housing supply, puts landlords in the driver’s seat. It allows them to raise rents without losing their renters, because tenants don’t have any other option. This, of course, is an unacceptable situation.

Renters need support, and rent control can be part of the solution, particularly in the short term.

In St. Catharines, we have watched residents within whole apartment buildings being displaced in the pursuit of profit—regular tenants, good community members, often seniors, bullied out of their homes. Why is that? This is because if a tenant is removed, the price of the unit can be raised up to any amount. As a result, seniors who have been living in affordable units for long periods of time—typically, due to their long tenure, they have lower-than-market rents—are being displaced.

Now what happens? Time and time again, out-of-region speculators and investors see these buildings with seniors as targets to double their profit. These seniors are seen as only numbers on a spreadsheet—that is it. These companies know that if they remove a senior out of their home, they can double their profits overnight. They are incentivized to do what they can to displace current tenants. This market only exists because we have no rent control in Ontario that protects these tenants, that protects seniors.

I am reminded of a story of a local senior who was being renovicted from 137 Church Street in St. Catharines, a building owned by Bedford Properties. His name was Kenneth Gogo. He had terminal cancer, with less than six months to live. This corporation was attempting to renovict Ken. When he pleaded with them and told them, “I have cancer, and I just want to stay in my own home,” they ignored his pleas. They ignored it until I brought his issue forward in this chamber. The actions that were taken got Kenneth results. They decided to withdraw their crass tactics when exposed to public scrutiny. This is what it took to save one senior in St. Catharines. It took pointing out the incredibly immoral tactics of this company on Ontario’s biggest stage. Kenneth Gogo is no longer with us. However, he became a symbol of the harassment that we are allowing in Ontario. Kenneth won that day, but his neighbours and friends lost their fight. He watched as the building had their older tenants displaced and replaced.

I’m proud to be part of this caucus, with a plan to make life more affordable by bringing back real rent control so young families can save for their first home, and to prevent seniors from being bullied out of their last.

Together, we can make a difference in the lives of countless families and individuals throughout the province. The solution is real, simple and practical. Ontario needs real rent control.

Earlier in this debate, I heard the Minister of Municipal Affairs and—unaffordable—Housing boast about the Conservatives’ housing plan. He said, “Our plan is working.” We just found out recently that the average rent has surpassed $3,000 a month. We’ve had five years of a majority Conservative government, and the average rent has just passed $3,000 a month. I’m wondering what the minister was talking about when he said, “Our housing plan is working”—and then I realized he forgot to put in “for the developers.” That’s what’s really happening here.

The Conservatives’ solution to unaffordable housing is to pave over the Greenbelt, to give developers a $5-billion taxpayer-funded subsidy, and to strip Ontarians in Toronto, Peel, York and Niagara of their right to democratic, majority vote municipal governance. And they cancelled rent control for anyone living in a building that’s newer than 2018. This is hitting people across this province.

In my own riding, Sam and her partner are a young couple. They pay $3,200 a month rent for their one-bedroom apartment, which is more than 50% of their combined income. Their lease expires in May 2024, and other units in that building are now renting for $3,600 a month. So they’re worried that if the Conservatives do not pass the NDP motion today to provide rent control for all units, they could face a $400-a-month rent increase.

Megan, another resident of Spadina-Fort York, faced a rent increase, from $2,100 a month to $2,900 a month. That’s an $800, 38% increase. She was able to negotiate that down to just a $400, 19% increase—still incredibly unaffordable and incredibly unfair to her.

Marcy, another resident in Spadina–Fort York, makes the median income in her neighbourhood, and she says that it’s just not enough to afford rent. She has a full-time job and a part-time job. She is debating whether to move out of the province. She is a young widow, and she feels incredibly unstable at this stage of her life. She said, “It can happen to anybody and it’s happening to so many people. I don’t want to leave” Ontario.

This affordability crisis is impacting people across this province, and the government’s solution is not working. But the NDP—we are offering solutions. We are saying that the Conservatives should acknowledge their mistake in stripping Ontarians of rent control protections and reinstate rent control on all units. We’re saying that you should be building not-for-profit housing, including co-ops, social and supportive housing. And you have to stop subsidizing developers with that $5-billion tax subsidy.

Ontarians are struggling to afford the rising cost of living in this province, including the extreme high cost of rent. Rent has now skyrocketed to over $3,000 a month in Toronto for a one-bedroom. That is $36,000 a year—unaffordable for the majority of tenants, including the 58% of people in my riding who rent their homes. That $36,000 is far more than anyone on OW, ODSP or who earns minimum wage can afford, all of whom, by the way, have their income level set by this government.

In 2018, the Conservative government amended the Residential Tenancies Act to exempt any unit built after November 15, 2018, from rent control. So in 2020, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. reviewed this regime of rent control exemption and they found that this regime specifically increases rent.

As well, we know that without rent control between tenants, people across the province will continue to experience unlawful evictions, including renovictions, all so that rents can increase without limit. Beyond making rents unaffordable, the removal of rent control has historically not increased the supply of rental housing in Ontario, despite what the Conservative government claims. We also know that supply alone won’t address the housing crisis, especially if fewer and fewer working-class and low-income Ontarians can afford to rent.

Any new rental supply must come with rental protections. Tenants need affordable rents and predictable, limited rent increases that they can plan for without fear of being priced out of their homes. They need stability in their lives, and housing stability is a key component of that.

Right now, people cannot afford their housing. Toronto alone has 10,000 people who are homeless and more than 30,000 households that are in rental arrears. Immediate action must be taken to address this.

Speaker, housing is a human right, and that means real rent control for tenants. Without it, the dual crisis of unaffordability and housing will continue to spiral out of control.

The NDP’s motion today addresses that. It restores rent control for all units, including in between tenancies, and thereby protects every Ontarian’s human right to housing by keeping rents affordable.

This Conservative government can and must do better. Ontarians need real rent control now.

I’m pleased to have the opportunity today to discuss real rent control and the motion that our party has brought forward today.

As you will know, Speaker, rent in Hamilton is completely unaffordable. For a measly one-bedroom apartment, we’re over $1,800; for a two-bedroom unit, we’re over $2,200, and the cost of living continues to rise. Minimum wage has not been able to keep up with that, nor could a person on minimum wage afford to be able to rent a very small unit.

Like many we’ve heard from already, I have constituents who have reached out to me with issues of not being able to get back into units where their landlord has told them that there are going to be renovations.

I have a couple who has been in a hotel room for almost a year, continuing to pay the bills in the previous unit—paying the hydro, paying all of the bills, the utilities, to keep it up—in the thoughts that they’re going back to that unit. And yet the renovations have not even started, and the landlord has told them that they don’t believe that it’s going to be able to happen and that they’re going to be able to return to their unit. This puts that couple in a position where they will have to take it to the Landlord and Tenant Board to be able to fight this decision of the landlord, but it’s very costly and time-consuming to be able to do that, and there’s certainly no help in our community to help tenants be able to fight at the Landlord and Tenant Board. This government has cut the funding to the community legal clinics, which does not allow those community legal clinics to be able to represent people in the Landlord and Tenant Board any longer, which is a huge barrier for so many folks.

We’ve heard the minister talk about the doubling of people at the Landlord and Tenant Board to be able to hear those hearings, but yet many of those are virtual, when there’s a major barrier for so many folks to be able to have access to the computers to be able to attend virtually, and then not having the representation to be able to help them is very overwhelming for so many folks. I’ve heard from those people who just feel that they do not have access to justice when it comes to the Landlord and Tenant Board.

So we need to be able to get these rents under control, give people the ability to live in a suitable environment, and currently, that environment just is out of reach for so many people across this province.

I hope that the government members will take heed to this, hear our plea today to be able to control the rents, and vote in favour of this motion.

Everyone in Ontario deserves a safe and affordable place to call home, but the cost of rent in Ontario is not affordable. In fact, in Toronto, the average cost of rent is approaching $3,000 a month. The cost of rent has increased to more than 50% of take-home income for many Ontario households.

When businesses upcharge people for essential items, we call that gouging. What’s happening to tenants in Ontario right now is no different. Housing is a human right.

To pay their rent, many individuals and families are being forced to take on a second or third job. To pay their rent, people are having to cut back on groceries and all other spending. Still others are being forced to move farther and farther away from their families, their jobs, their children’s schools.

This is making the affordability crisis even worse. People are barely treading water. Many are drowning. But when we, the NDP, raise these concerns here, the government responds with insults and jokes.

The government knows this problem isn’t just about supply and demand; it’s much more than that. They know it. They know that there’s more that can be done to help tenants right now, more that can be done today.

I want to remind the minister that Toronto has led North America in construction cranes for years before they took office. After five years of Conservative government, rent has never been so high.

Families don’t have years to wait for a market adjustment. Many don’t even have months. They need relief now. The status quo is destroying families and leading some landlords into bad-faith evictions to charge even more. There are families out there right now who don’t have time to wait. They need us. They need you to act right now, and that means implementing real rent control.

Again, under this government, rents are by far the highest they’ve ever been, with no immediate relief on the horizon. You can’t just sit on your hands. Do the right thing. Support this NDP motion to bring in rent control and give tenants across this province the relief they need, the relief they deserve. They are counting on all of us to help them, so do it. Support this motion.

I want to thank, first of all, my colleagues in the official opposition for their impassioned speeches this afternoon and their support of this really important motion. I think you heard here today so many stories, so many stories—the voices, really, of Ontarians brought here into the chamber over and over again—the stories of real Ontarians, regular people struggling to keep their homes, making choices between whether or not they can make rent or put food on the table for their families. And this is a choice that more and more families are making today, Speaker.

Rent is skyrocketing in this province. It’s the highest it has ever been, and the increases we’re seeing—you know, we heard today of 27%, 40%, 30% increases. Who can afford that? Who can afford that? We heard, also, about employers who are saying—we speak to the chambers, Speaker—that this is destroying our communities, our economy, because workers simply can’t afford to live in our communities anymore. They can’t get by. People are leaving this province.

All of those people that leave Ontario, that leave our communities? Those are our future. And they’re gone. They’re going. What’s really astonishing is the lack of other options, right? It’s the lack of other options. If there were other, more affordable options, maybe this wouldn’t be a conversation we would be having today. If Conservative governments of past days gone by hadn’t cancelled 17,000 co-op units that were supposed to be built in this province, maybe we might not be in quite the situation we’re in. But we can’t go back and rewrite history.

I think what I find the most concerning is that this government wants people to think that there’s no way out. That their backroom deals with developers are going to solve the problem. And that is—

There is another way. The government can join us, we can bring back real rent control in this province and we can stop the through-the-roof rent increases that are causing people in this province to lose their homes. We can create an Ontario where people can live a safe and secure life, not worrying about whether or not they’re going to be able to afford to keep the roof over their head.

I want to ask the members opposite: I know that they’re feeling pressure from the people in their communities, and that’s why they get grumpy like that, because they’re feeling the pressure, too. If we’re hearing about it, so are you. It’s time to do the right thing. This is one measure among many that we need to take to address the housing crisis in this province, but it’s a really important one.

Join us. Join us in bringing back real rent control in the province of Ontario.

It’s an honour for me to rise today in support of our opposition day motion to re-establish rent control within the province of Ontario. Hearing debate today, it’s clearer than ever how out of touch Conservatives have become.

The NDP is the party of housing. We built the most affordable and supportive housing of any government before. It’s clear that the Conservative-Liberal consortium can’t build themselves. They’re content to incentivize eviction, renoviction, demoviction, and they disrespect renters as well as seniors.

London was hit by the biggest average annual increase in Canada of rental costs: 33% in one year. Last year, it was a 27% increase.

Huntington Towers is a 10-storey building where tenants were asked to pay a rental increase to cover the cost of a new parking garage.

Tenants at One Richmond Row were hit with a 7% rent hike because they were not informed that they were inhabiting a building that this government had removed rent control from.

You see, Conservatives carved a loophole in tenants’ rights with no rental protections for buildings that were first occupied after November 2018. People were already having a tough time paying the bills, yet this government saw fit to remove rights from them. They drilled a hole in their already sinking ship.

Conservative cognitive dissonance is at an all-time high with this government. We’ve heard members across pat themselves on the back for the creation of all these new rental buildings, but they don’t realize that they have enabled a system of exploitation because they’ve removed protections from people who can least afford it.

Tenants call my office regularly about legal and illegal rental hikes. But when they’ve fought back against their landlord, then their unit will stop receiving basic maintenance. It’s time for this Ontario government to actually lead from the front, stand up and make sure that they’re taking a strong public role in the building, the funding, the delivery and the acquisition and protection of rental housing.

You can start today. You can start supporting renters by supporting our opposition day motion.