Why Edmonton may need to focus on renters as it stares down 'peak home ownership'

As Edmonton enters election season and rents rise, Taproot spoke to experts with the Community Housing Canada research project and the Collins Lab for Urban Excellence at the University of Alberta to learn more about how to keep prices attainable as the city continues to grow.

A November report shows that rents are falling in many cities across Canada but not in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Regina, or Saskatoon. Rents for one-bedroom units in Edmonton have grown by 7.8% over the last year, to an average of $1,384 per month. The report also shows rents dropping in the most expensive Canadian cities. Edmonton, meanwhile, ranks 31st in Canada on average rents, and has seen a month-over-month decrease in average rents. More data from RentCafe suggests renters are flocking to Edmonton because it remains cheap compared to other cities. But if rents continue trending upwards and new supplies of rental housing don't keep pace with growth, being a tenant in the city could become more precarious.

"Housing need and housing hardship are concentrated amongst people who rent," Damian Collins, of both the U of A and Community Housing Canada, told Taproot. "We need to build lots of purpose-built rentals, and we want them to be in accessible, high-quality neighbourhoods where people aren't locked into very expensive and long commutes."

Katie MacDonald, of Athabasca University and Community Housing Canada, told Taproot that this hardship is only getting worse. MacDonald previously worked for Civida, a housing provider.

"If we look at what's happening in the housing ecosystem in Edmonton, and also across the country, we're losing low-end-market rentals, so even if we see an increase in housing starts, low-end rentals in the private market are being lost," MacDonald said. "That's really impacting affordability, even if we have higher starts, because those starts are, like, luxury condos."

Developers of purpose-built rentals are eligible for new tax rebates. That may make them more viable, though the 2024 Housing Market Outlook from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation suggests vacancies for such properties will decline through 2025.

Another factor is a generational change in attitudes about owning property, MacDonald said. "There's a cultural shift towards seeing meaning in home ownership … Many young people are saying: 'No, thank you. That's a lot of responsibility.'"

Collins added to this point, noting that the national ratio of renters, which stands at one-third of the population, will likely spike in the way it already has in the U.K. and New Zealand.

"We've reached peak home ownership, and now it's declining," Collins said. "More people will be renting, and they'll be renting longer. People will be renters for their lifetimes in more cases. People will be entering retirement without the equity of home ownership."

Experts told Taproot there are ways to stop or slow rent increases such as tougher rules, including controls on rent. They also discussed examples from other provinces where tenants have pushed back using ideas like rent strikes.

Rent control is a mandated limit to how much a landlord can raise rent for housing and when. Rent control is typically handled at the provincial level, like it is in Ontario. Alberta does not have rent control, but does limit how often rents can increase and how much notice is required. Alberta's Residential Tenancies Act governs these matters between tenants and landlords.

In January, Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood MLA Janis Irwin, with the Alberta New Democratic Party, tabled Bill 205, a non-government bill titled The Alberta Housing Security Act. The bill sought to create a temporary rent cap of 2% over four years but failed to gain support from the governing United Conservative Party government.

"I'm curious what would actually happen around creating secure tenancies for people," MacDonald said, adding it was sad the bill had died.

Minister of seniors, community, and social services Jason Nixon wrote an opinion piece for Postmedia in December, dismissing rent control as a "knee-jerk reaction" that would have a "devastating" impact on the economy.

But the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now Canada (or simply ACORN Canada) has made rent control its biggest priority, a spokesperson told Taproot in an email.

The organization, which has a tenants' union with an Alberta chapter, has an ongoing campaign to push the UCP government to adopt rent controls. "Alberta tenants lack many of the basic protections that other provinces have," reads a statement it issued in December, which advocated for the UCP to support Irwin's bill.

Beyond rent controls, other ideas are emerging in cities. Last year, ACORN celebrated a residential rental registry established in Halifax, Nova Scotia. An ACORN spokesperson told Taproot in March that were Edmonton to adopt such a list, it could "ensure that rules and regulations are enforced" for landlords.

The same month, Edmonton's Coun. Michael Janz said there is "work underway" to develop a landlord registry based on recommendations from the City of Edmonton's latest version of an affordable housing strategy.

Lists go both ways, though. In 2022, Postmedia reported that landlords in Edmonton have built blacklists in two private Facebook groups.

"Tenants are stigmatized," MacDonald said. She said tenants are looked at as less-than because they are a minority of the population and municipal politicians may overlook their interests because they court votes from those who own homes. MacDonald also noted writers, such as Ricardo Tranjan, a political economist and senior researcher who works for the Canadian Center for Policy Alternative and wrote the book, The Tenant Class, have examined how tenants in Canada are often seen as lesser than, due to Canada's high rate of home ownership.

For those in government, renting "is really seen as a temporary position," MacDonald said.

MacDonald suggested another book called Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis by Californians Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis, as further reading about the difficulties of the tenant experience.

Tenants have historically organized in other parts of Canada to create change for those who rent.

"There's a long history in Quebec of tenant-organizing, because people are seeing tenancy as what they will be in for their (entire) life," MacDonald said.

One example of this is organizing by public-housing tenants at the Habitations Jeanne-Mance in Montreal. Tracing back to the 1930 housing crisis in that city, residents challenged the government to improve living conditions and keep rents under control. The National Film Board of Canada has a short-form documentary about it, created in 1963.

A "controversial" addition to Quebec's housing history was made in February, CBC reported. Bill 31 has done away with residents' freedom to transfer leases without landlord approval, but also purports to offer tenants a new way to refuse evictions and recompense if they are forced to vacate.

The Syndicat des locataires Montreal / Montreal's Autonomous Tenants' Union planned a rent strike ahead of the bill's passing. A rent strike is essentially a collective refusal to pay rent until demands are met that can result in eviction or legal repercussions. Ultimately, the strike never materialized and Bill 31 remains in effect today.

More recently, the union and the Delmar-Hearne Tenants' Union picketed a rental building until its owner fired management and sold the building.

Toronto has seen rent strikes as well, including one that ended in October. About 16 months of various actions, including withheld rent, resulted in an "amicable" resolution between landlord Dream Unlimited and the York South-Weston Tenant Union.

Despite these recent examples, rent strikes are not new. In Canada, the practice goes as far back as the 1860s on Prince Edward Island.

Several people within Edmonton's housing ecosystem told Taproot about how renting affects life in the city:

• Bernice Westfall: 'Now I'm one of the ones needing help'
• Doug Singleton: 'Some people aren't meant to be homeowners'
• Clare Mullen: 'You have to be really cautious
• Bindu Bonneau: 'There is a lot more to develop'

You're invited to an evening of conversation inspired by Housing Complex, which explores what works, what doesn't, and what can be improved about Edmonton's housing ecosystem.

On Nov. 27, hear from some of the people who brought the series to life. We also invite you to share your curiosity about housing in Edmonton and start thinking about what you want to hear on the topic from the candidates for the 2025 municipal election.