Tenants target Moncton-area landlord, call for government to end ‘rent control loopholes’

Housing rights campaigners demonstrated Friday afternoon outside the office of a Moncton-area landlord whose company attempted to illegally remove tenants from an apartment building last month.

The demonstration came as activists across the country called for the government to invest massively in social housing while implementing tougher protections for renters.

About a dozen activists from NB ACORN marched from Dieppe City Hall to the nearby office of landlord and realtor Kyle Johnson, who is listed on government documents as director of Johnsky Holdings Ltd.

Earlier this year, Johnsky Holdings bought a 28-unit apartment building at 320 St. George Street before informing tenants that subsidies from NB Housing would no longer be accepted to cover rent. The company renovated the units after clearing out the low-income tenants.

In September, the remaining tenants received notices of termination giving them three months to vacate. In a bizarre twist, property manager 4 Rent Solutions said those apartments would be turned into subsidized housing units. At the time, a spokesperson for NB Housing said “the situation is still evolving.”

The Tenant and Landlord Relations Office eventually overturned at least one of those evictions after finding that the landlord hadn’t received approval from the housing tribunal, a violation of the Residential Tenancies Act. NB ACORN called it an example of illegal renovictions and harassment.

On Friday, activists rallied outside a commercial building that includes Exit Realty Associates, where Johnson’s office is located, according to his website. He didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Someone briefly emerged from the building telling the activists to stay off the property. “You’re intimidating people,” he said, telling the people assembled there to clear the entrance. “Go on the sidewalk.”

Earlier, the activists gave speeches outside the Dieppe municipal building, calling for massive government intervention in the housing market to address the cost-of-living crisis.

“More needs to be done to protect people from slumlords, corporate greed, and the destruction of existing affordable housing,” said NB ACORN co-chair Peter Jongeneelen.

“We are in the middle of an unprecedented housing affordability crisis,” he said, adding that U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war increases the vulnerability of low- and moderate-income people.

Prime Minister Mark Carney launched a new agency last month dubbed Build Canada Homes, saying it would “supercharge homebuilding across the country.”

It includes $1.5 billion meant to “support the community housing sector in acquiring at-risk rental apartment buildings, ensuring they remain affordable over the long term,” among other initiatives.

NB ACORN says money from the agency should come with conditions requiring that provinces including New Brunswick and Ontario introduce tougher legislation “to ensure that all rent control loopholes are closed.”

The group has called for legislation to stop renovictions and harassment by landlords, and for the province to step up enforcement of existing protections for renters.

Last year, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged to introduce a renters’ bill of rights that would “crack down on renovictions” among other measures.

So far, the government has published a so-called blueprint for the proposed bill of rights — and a separate one for a planned home buyers’ bill of rights.

NB ACORN says change isn’t coming fast enough. “We need an actual action plan,” Jongeneelen said.

In response to a request for comment, Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada provided a statement that didn’t respond directly to ACORN’s demands.

“The Government of Canada is calling on provinces and territories, as well as all other actors involved in home renting or buying, to take actions to uphold these principles [from the blueprint documents] that contribute to making home renting and buying fair and functional throughout Canada,” the statement said, in part.

A spokesperson for NB Housing didn’t respond to a request for comment for this story. According to Tuesday's Speech from the Throne, delivered by Lt.-Gov. Louise Imbeault, the provincial government plans to add 1,760 affordable housing units by 2029.

ACORN Canada has called for the construction of 1.2 million affordable units across the country over the next 10 years.

For now, housing activists are trying to maintain pressure on government and landlords to keep renters in their homes.

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada via the Local Journalism Initiative.