Charlottetown, PE - Today the Green caucus called on Minister of Housing Rob Lantz to implement a moratorium on rental-to-condo conversions in order to address the growing trend of units being removed from the rental market and turned into condominiums.

Most recently, tenants living in a Charlottetown apartment building, many who are seniors who have lived there for decades, were informed their property management company would be placing their units up for sale.

This removal of rental units is displacing tenants who must decide between leaving their home and finding another place to live or purchasing their unit. In many cases, this is an impossible decision for renters living on a fixed income who simply cannot afford to purchase their unit and are now facing a tight rental market with few available affordable units.

“The reality is that housing starts in our province have not increased anywhere near enough to match the need, despite what the Minister likes to say,” said Peter Bevan-Baker, Third Party Critic for Housing. “Until the Minister can properly address the housing crisis, and the number of housing starts actually meets demand, he should put a pause on this growing trend that permanently removes rental units from the market.”

In the recent spring sitting of the legislature, Minister Lantz acknowledged that there should be changes made to the new Residential Tenancy Act to address some of its flaws and gaps. The issue of rental units being converted to condominiums is not new; it has been brought up in the legislature for over a year, but as of today, the King government has done nothing to address the impact it is having on tenants and the rental market generally. The Green caucus is calling on the Minister to include a moratorium as part of the promised amendments he will bring during the upcoming fall sitting of the legislature.