Nanaimo councillor calls for vacancy control as rent skyrockets

Nanaimo city councillor Hilary Eastmure, who rents a modest apartment in the city, is calling on the province to regulate the amount that landlords can charge on vacant units. Photo: Mick Sweetman / CHLY 101.7FM

The average price for a vacant two-bedroom apartment in Nanaimo has jumped to just under $2,000 according to the latest rental market report by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

The price of a vacant two-bedroom apartment in the city went up by $115 last year rising from $1,841 in October 2022 to $1,956 a year later.

Hilary Eastmure is the only renter elected to Nanaimo’s city council, but said she wouldn’t have been able to move to Nanaimo if the rents were that high when she first landed a job in the city.

“I actually ended up in Nanaimo originally, in 2013, because at that time it was an affordable place to live,” she said. “You could get a one bedroom apartment for $700 a month. I wouldn't have been able to even move to Nanaimo as a young working reporter if rent hadn't been affordable at that time.”

Currently there is no limit to how much a landlord can ask for on a vacant unit in British Columbia, leading to a growing disparity between the rent paid by established tenants and new renters.

According to the CMHC report, the average rent for a vacant two-bedroom apartment in Nanaimo is 25 per cent higher than the average rent of $1,520 for renters who haven’t moved.

Eastmure is part of a growing number of voices who are calling on the provincial government to implement vacancy control, which would regulate the amount of rent that landlords can charge on vacant units.

“I would absolutely love to see vacancy control,” she said. “I think it is absurd that in between renters, landlords can jack up the rent as much as they want.”

Eastmure said that she understands that there are challenges to implementing vacancy control, but it is needed to protect affordable rental units in the city.

“I think there is a way to bring it in mindfully with some provisions in place for these buildings where people haven't moved for 10 or 20 years,” she said. “But I think it's really an important tool that we need so that we don't lose our current stock of affordable rentals, because that's what's happening right now. Every single time someone moves out of an affordable rental, it essentially vanishes.”

Laura Kadowaki, Program and Operations Coordinator with Healthy Aging at United Way BC, agrees that vacancy control is needed.

“The price of a unit, which might have been maybe previously $1,000 to rent, when they have that turnover in the tenant, it might be $1,400 to rent next,” she said. “So that's a significant concern,” she said. “Vacancy control is a policy that could be implemented to control the amount you can increase the rents between tenancies.”

On Wednesday, the province announced that it will be investing another $11 million into the BC Rent Bank for tenants who experience a crisis and need help paying their rent. These interest free loans can be used by renters to pay rent, utilities or damage deposits and are run by local agencies in communities across the province.

The maximum loan amount is up to $3,500 with repayment plans ranging from six months to three years, and the average loan is $1,800.

This investment doubles the province’s commitment to the BC Rent Bank, with $10 million previously committed in 2019, and could help up to 20,000 more people.

Asked about the calls for vacancy control, the premier's liaison for renters Spencer Chandra Herbert told reporters that the province is focused on increasing the supply of rental housing.

“You can pass all sorts of rules. But if you don't have the housing, you don't have the housing,” he said. “I think that's where the focus has to be. We can say, x, y z, but if there's 10 people fighting for one unit, that's the problem.”

Despite a net gain of just under 7,800 rental units in the province, the vacancy rate in British Columbia dropped to just 1.2 per cent in 2023.

The report said high population growth is stoking demand in Metro Vancouver’s rental market as net international immigration to the province rose by 56 per cent compared to the first half of 2022 and 69 per cent of recent immigrants to Vancouver said they were renters.

Nanaimo saw a gain of 210 purpose built rental apartments last year raising the vacancy rate from 2.2 to 2.7 per cent. A vacancy rate of at least three per cent is considered an indicator of a healthy rental market.

According to Kadowaki about one in five seniors in British Columbia spend at least half of their income on rent, which puts them at a high risk of becoming homeless. Kadowaki would like to see the province increase the shelter aid for elderly renters (SAFER) benefit.

“The SAFER benefit isn't regularly adjusted, so the amount that you receive is quite small and might only be one or $200 a month,” she said. “We would really like to see it reviewed and to be regularly adjusted in order to keep pace with the rental market.”

Chandra Herbert says that he couldn’t comment on if an increase to SAFER will be in the upcoming budget.

“I can't speak for the finance minister,” he said. “But I do know, the Shelter Assistance for Elderly Renters program, the Rental Assistance Program, both have been very helpful I know in my constituency, and certainly helped a lot of seniors and a lot of renters. So certainly a program that I support.”

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.