Horwath demands immediate close of 1991 rent control loophole in legislature

Today Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath demanded Premier Kathleen Wynne take immediate action to protect renters across the province by closing the 1991 loophole.  

During question period, Horwath referenced the recently released Generation Squeeze report that shows the wages, and quality of life for young people in Ontario have been dropping. The report singles out the high cost of rental housing as one of the causes, saying that young people are working full time but “watching their money down to the penny” and can’t imagine a day when they can afford to buy a house, let alone pay their student loans or be able to afford to live in this province without working two jobs.

“Is Premier Wynne planning to let a whole generation of young people continue to see their quality of life decline? Is she refusingtoclose the 1991 rent control loophole exemption immediately?” asked Horwath this morning in the Legislature.

NDP MPP Peter Tabuns introduced the bill that would provide rent-hike protection for all renters by immediately closing a loophole that allows landlords in buildings built later than 1991 to hike rents as much as they want. The private member’s bill, the Rent Protection for All Tenants Act, tabled in mid-March, could be passed by unanimous consent in the legislature immediately if Wynne, her Liberals and the Conservatives wanted to ban unfair rent hikes.