Written by: Morgana Adby

On Wednesday, many people across Canada chose to strike, in an organized ‘keep your rent’ movement. This polarizing movement has made enemies of landlord advocacy groups, who argue that even with mortgage deferrals, they will need to pay it and other expenses. Supporters contest that there are enough people that will be unable to pay their rent that there needs to be some sort of bailout for renters.

Many have called for a rent freeze, citing the Canadian airlines which have been bailed out of their rent at the 21 airports where the federal government collects. This policy will save airlines up to $331.4 million between now and December.

As a result, tenants are organizing in the major cities. For some, it is because they cannot currently pay their rent, even if they wanted to. For others, it is a choice they are making. They know they might not be able to pay next month. As a result, they are working together to demand their housing is understood to be as important as the rent of the airline industry.

Notably, Premier Doug Ford had some sympathetic words for those choosing between paying rent or putting food on the table, telling them to feed themselves first. Most provinces have also halted evictions for the time being. Landlord advocacy groups feel that this encourages tenants to stick their landlord with a hefty bill once the mortgage deferral period is complete.

Advocates explain that they do not think it is their responsibility to ensure landlords can pay their mortgage; they believe that the circumstances require a government bailout for landlords through a rent freeze policy.

The COVID-19 situation is unique: In addition to the scope and impacts of the challenge, it also is unique in the sense that it is a significant risk to people of all statuses. The virus can affect anyone. Even with social determinants of health putting people of lower status at heightened risk, someone with the best resources available is still going to face some level of risk. Seeing celebrities, politicians and notable community members fall ill is a shocking reminder for many people who own land and business. Many have argued that the virus’ impact on all levels of society is the reason why so much has been done, while the ongoing issues that have plagued the poor for years were met with little change.

Renters have seen the complete mobilization of the federal government to ensure the survival of businesses. Suddenly, the idea of restructuring the housing market has become a lot more realistic, when we have already transformed many elements of the economy to stabilize it.

Billions of dollars have been invested in the crisis, including income supplements for those faced with one of the thousands of layoffs in the workforce. However, given that most Canadians live paycheque to paycheque, people living amidst a housing crisis in Vancouver or Toronto will likely find they cannot live off the $2000 a month Emergency Benefit, if they are even eligible for it.

With that, there is a growing sense of dissonance between the different accommodations based on property ownership.

Canada generally has an interesting relationship with class divisions. Much of the time the middle class will have varying levels of income and capital investment. This blurs the lines between those that own property and those that do not. Generally, for Canada class is something that cannot be reduced down to property divides. Yet, the aid provided to business and landowners highlights to renters that they simply do not have access to the same resources that ownership can.

A rent freeze has been endorsed both by Acorn as well as almost eight hundred thousand people who have signed the petition. The loss of profits would mainly impact banks, that would miss out on the interest they would normally make. Depending on the method, it would also require government subsidies.

What is clear, is that these rent striking groups will not be going away. As the crisis continues and people run out of savings, more will be unable or unwilling to buy into the structure they did last month.

Some concessions will have to be made. If these concessions do not take the form of a rent freeze or another planned accommodation, then landlords will be stuck with maintenance bills and mortgages they cannot pay. Meanwhile, tenants will just stop paying one day when they cannot afford the rent anymore.

Ideally, the structure could be changed proactively, so no party is faced with undue hardship, similar to what was done for airlines. Certainly, the issues of tenancy rights will be ongoing and any dismissal of the problem will fall on the deaf ears of people who are simply unable to pay for their own housing. If left to fester, not enough people will be able to pay the premium rent of living in a big city anyway, and the housing market will have to face the consequences of not adapting. In that scenario, landlords will face losses the hard way, nobody wins - least of all the renters.