Canada’s housing strategy needs to prioritize tenants over investors, MP contends

More rent controls, fewer evictions, and general deterrence of predatory business practices all need to be written into Canada’s National Housing Strategy Act, according to Port Moody-Coquitlam MP Bonita Zarrillo.

On Wednesday, Zarrillo tabled a private member’s bill that – if approved – would amend Canada’s housing strategy.

“Homeownership seems out of reach, and rent is unaffordable even when places are falling apart because rich corporate investors have found a get-rich-quick scheme – buying up homes and gouging people,” the MP stated in a press release.

The bill, which would need to go through two more readings in the House of Commons and three readings in the Senate, emphasizes that: “housing is not adequate if it is not affordable.”

Besides adding stronger rent control measures and a method to address “evictions made in bad faith,” the bill also contends that: “financial actors are playing an increasingly dominant role in the housing market,” ultimately depriving Canadians of affordable housing.

In particular, the bill underscores the need to crack down on residential property owners using data analytics to set prices.

Zarrillo previously called for an investigation into landlords using artificial intelligence software to fix prices.

The issue of AI-facilitated rent hikes received widespread attention in August when the U.S. Justice Department filed a civil antitrust lawsuit, alleging software company RealPage took part in an: “unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords,” which “harms millions of Americans.”

According to the lawsuit, landlords have been sharing “competitively sensitive information” about rental rates and lease terms with RealPage. The company uses that information to train its algorithmic pricing software, which in turn recommends rental rates to the landlords who buy the software.