This Saskatoon senior is getting priced out of the rental market
A Saskatoon senior living in a rental apartment is wondering why his monthly rent is drastically rising in a few months.
With a discrepancy between supply and demand in the housing market, he’s asking why more isn’t being done to secure housing for those on low or fixed incomes.
In February, Dwayne Schwab received a letter from Avenue Living Communities that rent on his one-bedroom Diefenbaker Drive apartment is going up June 1, and he can’t do anything about it.
“This is the way it is. At the end of your lease, your rent is going up $350 a month,” Schwab told CTV News.
He lives off $2,000 a month from pension and old age security, the increase puts the cost of his apartment out of reach.
“I’m on a fixed income and can’t afford it.”
Schwab has only lived in his current building two months. Before that, he was in a different Avenue Living rental, before he was forced out by a similar bump in rent.
“So I moved here where the rent was $1,000 a month, and within eight months they want to raise the rent to $1,350 here,” he said.
An Avenue Living apartment building on Diefenbaker Drive (Carla Shynkaruk / CTV News)
The province did not have a representative to speak on camera, but told CTV News in an email that it has two programs currently running to help address housing availability and affordability for homeowners and renters — a grant program to incentive the construction of secondary or garage suites, and a PST rebate on new home construction.
They said the two initiatives complement a federal program announced last year, target different areas of the housing continuum, and optimize conditions in Saskatchewan.
In its statement, the province made clear it had no interest in rent control legislation.
“Saskatchewan doesn’t have rent control. However, there are provisions in the Residential Tenancies Act that require landlords give tenants proper notice of rent increases.”
Because Schwab’s lease is up at the end of May, in this case, the rules are being followed.
Avenue Living didn’t provide someone for an in-person interview, but provided an emailed statement to CTV News.
According to the company, it has held off on rent increases in Saskatoon for the past few years but now the situation has changed.
“Given significant inflationary pressures for the housing industry with utilities, taxes, interest rates, insurance, labour, and materials going up at record paces, we are now needing to realign our rents to the market,” the email said.
Avenue also added that across its 1,500 suites in Saskatoon, rent aligns and is competitive with the rest of the market.
Regardless of their reasonsing, Schwab stressed that medication and food are priorities in his monthly budgeting, and this is forcing him to move to a friend’s house.
Schwab questions why rent isn’t more accessible for people like him, who are trying desperately to get by.
"After the rent, I get $650 a month to live on. You can't do that. Not at the price of groceries and everything, and not have a life.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Feds 'not interested' in investing in LNG facilities: energy minister
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says the federal government is 'not interested' in subsidizing future liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, including the electrification of projects currently in the works.
Chants of 'shame on you' greet guests arriving for the annual White House correspondents' dinner
An election-year roast of U.S. President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents' dinner Saturday.
Aerial photos show wide devastation left by tornado in China's Guangzhou
Aerial photos posted by Chinese state media on Sunday showed the wide devastation of a part of the southern city of Guangzhou after a tornado swept through the day before, killing five people, injuring dozens others and damaging over a hundred buildings.
Health minister 'deeply appreciative' of doctors but capital gains changes here to stay
Health Minister Mark Holland says while he is 'deeply appreciative' of the work doctors in Canada do, the federal government has no plans to scrap the proposed capital gains tax changes outlined in the latest budget, despite opposition from the Canadian Medical Association.
A top Qatari official urges Israel and Hamas to do more to reach a ceasefire deal
A senior Qatari official has urged both Israel and Hamas to show "more commitment and more seriousness" in ceasefire negotiations in interviews with Israeli media, as pressure builds on both sides to move toward a deal that would set Israeli hostages free and bring potential respite in the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza.
What Trudeau's podcast appearances say about the Liberals' next ballot box question
Trudeau recently appeared on four podcasts as he travels the country talking up the Liberals' latest budget, which he's pitching as a plan to inject more economic fairness into society for those under 40 — a cohort that has kept Trudeau in power since 2015 but is increasingly turning to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Russian drones set a hotel ablaze in a Ukrainian Black Sea city
Russian drones early Sunday struck the Black Sea city of Mykolaiv, setting a hotel ablaze and damaging energy infrastructure, the local Ukrainian governor reported, while ammunition shortages continued to hobble Kyiv's troops in the more than two-year-old war.
A munitions explosion at a Cambodian army base kills 20 soldiers, but its cause is unclear
Security was tight around a military base in southwestern Cambodia on Sunday, a day after a huge explosion there killed 20 soldiers, wounded others and damaged nearby houses.
Deadly six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 sparked by road rage incident
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.