Dear editor,
I am disappointed and disgusted to discover that our provincial government has authorized another rent increase of four per cent for 2019. We have already had increases of almost 14 per cent over the past four years. Aren’t renters suffering enough?
The Comox Valley is a depressed area. Half of the renters here pay over 30 per cent of their incomes on rent. Based on the Stats Can definition of poverty, that means we are living below the poverty line. However, for many people things are much, much worse. One out of every five B.C. renters are paying upwards of 70 per cent of their income on rent. Since they are handing over the vast majority of their wealth to landlords, they might as well be medieval serfs for the amount of misery this is causing.
Many renters here are only one pay cheque away from homelessness. Because of job losses, illness, and other emergencies, the legions of the homeless keep growing every year. Even the B.C. government’s proposal to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next several years won’t alleviate the problem if rents go up every year by inflation plus two per cent.
I would like our provincial legislature to do the right thing and freeze rents until incomes rise enough to put all renters above the poverty line. They could start by rescinding 2019’s four per cent increase. If you are as concerned about this as I am, please contact your MLAs and urge them to do this.
Charlotte Ostrowski
Courtenay