Halifax student union leaders call on N.S. to address soaring cost of student housing
Halifax student union leaders call on N.S. to address soaring cost of student housing
Halifax university student union leaders are calling on the Nova Scotia government to address the high cost of housing they say is making it harder for students to study and live in the province.
During a news conference hosted by the Nova Scotia NDP, the president of the University of King’s College student union said fellow students have told her they are struggling to cope with high rent while paying for tuition and necessities like food.
“We are hearing from our students, and students across the province, that this is a situation they cannot afford to live in,” Ellie Anderson said Wednesday.
Anderson and Ethan Leckie, a vice-president with the Dalhousie University student union, joined Nova Scotia NDP leader Claudia Chender to urge the government to make housing more affordable, including by replacing the temporary five per cent rent cap with a rent control system.
Leckie said Wednesday many students are working multiple part-time jobs or skipping out on buying groceries to pay rent in Halifax and elsewhere in the province.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says that as of October 2024, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment was just over $1,700 in Halifax, up 3.8 per cent compared to the year prior. However, the corporation found that the average rent for housing units that changed tenants in 2024 increased by about 28 per cent.
Leckie said the provincial government should tie rent increases to the consumer price index, and “close the fixed-term lease loophole” that allows landlords to raise rents above the existing five per cent cap, which is in place until 2027.
A fixed-term lease, unlike a periodic lease, does not automatically renew beyond its set end date. The rent cap covers periodic leases and situations in which a landlord signs a new fixed-term lease with the same tenant. But there is no rule preventing a landlord from raising the rent as much as they want after the term of a fixed lease expires — as long as they lease to someone new.
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