Anyone can experience no-fault evictions, say housing advocates rallying for change

Housing advocates are calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to tackle no-fault evictions, arguing it discriminates against renters and fuels housing insecurity.

Dozens of people gathered outside the Colonial Building in downtown St. John's on Saturday afternoon to lend their voices to the rally, which was organized by Tent City for Change, a volunteer group that formed last year to support homeless people in St. John's.

Organizer Munroe Molotov said the campaign is personal because she experienced a no-fault eviction when her landlord told her she had three months to find a new place to live during some minor renovations to the home's basement.

"Oh, it felt terrible," Molotov said. "At first I wasn't sure if she was serious because it was on April Fools' Day that I got the notice."

Molotov asked her landlord if she was serious, but the landlord said she wouldn't pull a prank like that.

"I didn't say it, but I'm, like, I feel like it's meaner to kick me out of the house than to pretend to kick me out of the house, you know?"

Molotov suspects she was kicked out so the apartment could be turned into an Airbnb unit and the landlord could make more money.

She said for the next three months she had to scramble to find a place to live. With the help of Tent City for Change volunteers, she managed to find a place to live.

She views no-fault evictions as a means for landlords to discriminate against tenants who have little recourse and pointed to the ongoing housing crisis that's gripping the province.

Tackling housing instability

Tent City for Change volunteer Laurel Huget said the organization held the rally to lobby the provincial government to ban no-fault evictions through changes to the Residential Tenancies Act. She added they are also collecting signatures for a petition they plan to present to Housing Minister John Abbott on Monday.

She argued no-fault evictions hurt tenants.

"Ultimately, it makes our rental system a lot more unstable and unpredictable and worse for tenants," Huget said.

She's heard there has been a spike in cases of no-fault evictions in the province in recent years and said that introducing a ban would help all renters.

"Even if you've never been no-fault evicted — even if you never will — they are a part of the mechanism that drives the cost of rent upwards, so it benefits everyone."

Huget said the group started looking at no-fault evictions because they were hearing from homeless people who had lost housing abruptly.

"The numbers show that if you're racialized or marginalized in any way, you're at a higher risk of no-fault evictions. But anyone can experience it."

Ban part of solution

NDP Leader Jim Dinn said ending no-fault evictions won't solve the current housing crisis but it could stabilize the situation.

"We do need, at least in the interim, rent and vacancy control. Maybe something like rent banks and maybe there are other measures," he said.

He also believes that non-market, community-based housing will also be part of the solution of getting people stable housing.

Landlords should not be able to evict people without a reason, he said, whether the landlord is the City of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Housing or other large real estate companies.

Moreover, he said people being evicted for no reason is more common than many people might think.

Dinn called on the provincial government to act: "Bring in legislation, change it so there's an end to no-fault eviction or better yet, start with their own organization- Newfoundland Labrador Housing Corporation and start with there."

If a landlord does need to evict someone, he said the reason needs to be scrutinized and there has to be a way to ensure that person still stays housed.

"In the end if they're evicted, we have no place to put them," said Dinn.

His office has approximately 150 cases and most are housing related and he's had to tell people they can't guarantee these people his office will be able to find them places to live.

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