A proposal to close a loophole that allows Ontario landlords to increase rent unrestrained in buildings built after 1991 will help some tenants in Hamilton, but experts say it is only a small part of the growing problem of limited affordable housing.

Hamilton Community Legal Clinic lawyer Marla Brown said the current loophole in the Residential Tenancies Act is causing a "glaring inequity," by exempting landlords from newer buildings from a rule that caps annual rent increases usually under 2 per cent.

NDP MPP Peter Tabuns is expected to table the private members bill - the Rent Protection for All Tenants Act - Monday.

Brown said she supports closing that loophole, but says that inequity is a symptom of a much bigger problem - lack of real rental control. Too often landlords are unfairly evicting tenants, because once the old tenant is gone there is no limit to how much they can increase rent with a new tenant.

Hamilton used to be considered an affordable city, but that is increasingly not the case, especially in a hot housing market where the vulnerable are being pushed out of neighbourhoods and many will never be able to afford to buy.

"We think gentrification is a runaway train here in Hamilton," Brown said.

The latest Canadian National Rent Report from PadMapper, looking at February numbers, showed Hamilton ranked as the 13th most expensive rental market of Canada's largest cities.

The price of a one-bedroom unit grew by 2.2 per cent to a median of $930, the report concluded. A two-bedroom unit averages around $1,120.

Tom Cooper, director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, said that the proposed change will not have a significant impact in Hamilton, because most rental units are in buildings older than 1991.

"Unfortunately we haven't seen many new rental apartments," he said. "There hasn't been an investment in affordable housing."

Rent rates have been skyrocketing, Cooper said, leaving many forced into unsafe, inaccessible and ill suited housing.

He called it the "dark side of gentrification."

Like many working in housing and poverty advocacy, he'd like to see a national housing strategy and significant investment in affordable housing by all levels of government.

"People are in desperate circumstances right now," he said. "We could be looking at an even bigger homelessness crisis."

Ontario Minister of Housing Chris Ballard said the province is already working on a review of the Residential Tenancies Act.

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"It is unacceptable that so many Ontarians are faced with housing costs that are rising dramatically," he said. "Families on tight budgets are feeling the pinch of a rental market that is struggling to keep up with demand."

Cooper said he will be looking for any changes to housing funding when the federal government unveils its budget March 22.