The majority of the City of Duncan鈥檚 council want the province to regulate rent increases by landlords when one tenant moves out and another moves in.
At its meeting on April 28, council directed staff to prepare a resolution on the issue to submit to the 2025 Union of BC Municipalities Convention for consideration.
While the province introduced a two per cent rent increase cap per year in B.C. in 2023, which was meant to help British Columbians navigate high costs of living, it does not apply to rent increases between tenancies.
Coun. Carol Newington said affordable housing continues to be a big issue in the city, as well as across the province, and she would like to see a cap introduced to regulate rent increases across B.C. in these cases as well.
鈥淪ometimes when a tenant leaves, the rent is often doubled, or even more in some cases,鈥� she said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a two per cent cap in rent increases every year in the province, so maybe a cap of 10 per cent could be implemented across B.C. if a tenant vacates.鈥�
Coun. Garry Bruce said he understands what Newington is trying to accomplish with her motion.
鈥淗owever, if your taxes have gone up 11.1 per cent [Duncan鈥檚 tax increase for 2025], your insurance is gone up and other things have gone up dramatically, it鈥檚 hard to tell the landlord that he can鈥檛 cover those costs, in my view,鈥� he said.
The motion passed, with Bruce opposed.
In 2023, after the Municipality of North Cowichan also asked the province to regulate rent increases between tenancies, the Ministry of Attorney General said in a statement to the Citizen that the province appointed a Rental Housing Task Force in 2018 to better understand what further changes may be needed to modernize British Columbia鈥檚 tenancy laws other than the two per cent rental cap.
鈥淭he task force, after consulting with renters and rental housing providers, did not recommend implementing vacancy control in its 2018 report to government,鈥� the ministry said at the time.
鈥淚n addition to capping the 2023 annual rent increase amount to two per cent, the province has made several significant changes to provide relief to renters in B.C., including limiting annual rent increases to inflation, addressing the issue of renovictions, strengthening penalties for breaking the law, expediting the return of security deposits, and allowing email as a way of serving documents.鈥�
Staff were also directed to prepare a resolution to have the The Village transitional-housing project on Trunk Road included in the federal government鈥檚 Homes for People housing continuum that will also be presented for consideration at the next meeting of the UBCM in September.
The Village, which was first established in Duncan in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, currently has 34 modular sleeping cabins for people in transition from homelessness, and wraparound services are provided 24 hours a day.
Mayor Michelle Staples said that at a previous UBCM meeting, the Village model was unanimously supported across the province, but it has still not been included in the federal housing continuum.
鈥�惭补肠濒别补苍鈥檚 magazine had it as one of the 25 models that should be adopted in order to address the crisis as a continuum for people to enter off the streets and then move into other forms of housing,鈥� she said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 being adopted across Canada and in other places in B.C., so it deserves a place on that [housing continuum] in my humble opinion.鈥�
The motion, as well as a motion for more on-site mental health and addictions services for supportive and transitional housing, were passed unanimously.
