Winnipeg Free Press
February 4, 2004
Government owns it -- no controls
By Patti Edgar
TENANTS of a downtown apartment block that's exempt from the province's rent-increase rules because it's government-owned are upset rents have jumped 18 per cent in the past two years.
The medium-size Vaughan Street apartment building, owned by The Forks North Portage Partnership, is popular with students, immigrants and the disabled.
But some people have already moved out because the monthly price tag is too high, tenants say.
The province usually allows landlords increases of about two per cent a year and reviews any increase above the guideline through the Residential Tenancies Branch.
But rent at 340 Vaughan went up eight per cent in October 2002 and 10 per cent in October 2003, although tenants did receive a five per cent discount last year.
Coun. Harvey Smith, approached for help recently by a coalition of tenants, called the province hypocritical for imposing rent-increase limits on the owners of private buildings while hiking rents in a building it partially owns.
Tenants had planned to dispute the latest increase through the Residential Tenancies Branch, but the agency dropped the review after finding the building is government-owned and so rent rules don't apply.
The Forks North Portage Partnership is jointly owned by all three levels of government. The Vaughan Street building is the agency's only apartment block.
"None of us wants this increase. You can ask anyone in the building and they would say, 'No way,' " said one longtime tenant, who pays almost $400 a month for a one-bedroom apartment.
"Some will have to move and others have already. I'm scared they'll keep doing this until the rents go up to $600."
Upset tenants have now sent letters to the their local MP, the premier and a provincial ministry.
Jim August, CEO of The Forks North Portage Partnership, said he would prefer that the building fell under the jurisdiction of the Residential Tenancies Branch so there could be an impartial review. The 2002 increase was approved by the branch.
"The rents we are charging in this building are below market value. In any other building in that area of downtown, in all likelihood they are paying more per suite," August said.
The rent increases are based on documented cost increases, including some major maintenance, he said.