PEIFAH Recommends 0% Maximum Allowable Increase in 2025

In August, the PEIFAH made the following submission to the Director of Residential Tenancy, asking for the allowable rent increase for 2025 to be set at zero percent.

To the Director of Residential Tenancy,

We are writing to you today to request that the maximum allowable rent increase be set to zero for the upcoming year. Over the past few months, we have continued to hear from tenants across our province who continue to struggle to make ends meet. Illegal rent increases, increases in short term rentals, renovictions, low investments in social housing, and low stock of housing have all contributed to these issues, but rent control is one easy means the provincial government has to help maintain affordability for tenants.

Between June 2023 and June 2024, PEI has experienced the second highest inflation rate in Canada at 3.4%, just behind Nova Scotia at 3.5%.[1] Inflation has continued to have profoundly negative impacts for tenants in PEI, increasing their cost of living and often eating into their budget for groceries. On the flip side, inflation only increases the value of a landlord’s equity in their property. Landlords have this equity available to them if they need it, tenants do not.

According to data from the 2021 Census, 28.1% of renters in PEI lived in unaffordable housing, meaning more than 30% of their household income was spent on housing costs. However, accounting only for recent renters who began renting within one year of the study, the number of renters in PEI living in unaffordable housing jumps to 37.9%.[2] Given the current housing climate in PEI and the extreme increases in new rentals in PEI, it is only fair to assume these figures have increased heavily.

We hear from tenants almost daily who struggle to make ends meet and provide for their families. An increase in rent from their landlord will inhibit their abilities to do so.

Signed,

PEI Fight for Affordable Housing

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[1] https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/information/finance/consumer-price-index-monthly

[2] https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/as-sa/98-200-X/2021016/98-200-X2021016-eng.cfm