New Westminster’s 2017 Citizen of the Year – and a candidate for city council - is hoping to put pressure on the provincial government to alter its formula for how much landlords can increase your rent.
Nadine Nakagawa has started an online petition to change the rental increase formula.
There were howls of outrage when the BC NDP government announced recently a 4.5-per-cent allowable rent increase.
“In 2004, the BC Liberal government set the annual allowable rental increase formula at inflation + 2%” reads the petition. “This formula has contributed to the housing crisis by allowing rental rates to rise faster than inflation. We are asking the BC government led by Premier John Horgan and Housing Minister Selina Robinson to change this formula before the increase takes effect.”
On Friday during a speech at the annual convention of the Union of B.C. Municipalities, Horgan did say thathe’s hopeful a new formula for setting limits on increases will arrive soon. Horgan said a task force headed by Vancouver West End MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert is underway.
“I’m confident the formula will be in that report,” Horgan said. “We’ll take action when we get it.”
The petition can be found here:
https://www.change.org/p/premier-john-horgan-fix-bc-s-allowable-rental-increase-formula
