Rent and affordability driving Sask. renters to the polls this election
Anti-poverty advocate says income increase, rent control and social housing needed
Shane Prpich has been a renter his whole adult life and says it has never been less affordable. That's driving him to the polls this federal election.
The 48-year-old Saskatoon native has been renting in the city since 2005, after a stint renting in Calgary.
Prpich said he used to be a world traveller — a benefit of renting — but those days are long gone.
"I had a comfortable living, rent was affordable, my wages were decent, I had disposable income, I traveled, I went to university [and] I could afford to go to university," Prpich said in a phone call interview with CBC.
Prpich has rented all over Saskatoon. In his early days he paid around $400 a month. Fast forward to today and he pays $1,119 a month — soon going up to $1,325 — for a place in the city's northeast.
"Energy, food, clothing, everything skyrocketed in my lifetime, but the worst thing has always been housing, and rent just keeps going up and up and up.… I've never really had an opportunity to buy a home," he said.
"Right now my salary is $60,000 a year. I'm at the average Canadian salary, so if I can't afford to buy a home, the average Canadian can't afford to buy a home."
While Saskatoon has some of the cheapest rents nationally at $1,276 for a one bedroom and $1,516 for a two bedroom, the year-over-year increase in price for both is more than six per cent, according to the latest data from Rentals.ca for the month of March.
Regina's average rent is $1,242 for a one bedroom and $1,486 for a two bedroom. Year-over-year rent for a one bedroom decreased by two per cent.
Increasing housing supply, core issue
Prpich said his vote is for policy that reflects more and cheaper housing supply.
Forty-five per cent of Canadians are concerned about their housing affordability, according to the most recent Canadian Social Survey done by Statistics Canada in 2024.
Statistics also indicate 69 per cent of Canadians in the Prairies face one or more housing challenges.
Organizations like Regina's Anti-Poverty Ministry want the federal government to recommit to increasing social housing stock in the province.
"There was a program from 1974 to 1993 which was phased out and ultimately cut off in 1993 where there were significant federal commitments to expand the social housing stock nationally," Gilmer, who works with the anti-poverty ministry, said.
"We really believe that this is the time for the federal government to step back in, in a significant way."
Gilmer said he has clients paying more than 80 per cent of their entire income on rent — in some cases more than 100 per cent.
He's pushing for more social housing with rent based on income, following the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) guidelines of a household not paying more than 30 per cent of their income on shelter related costs.
- CBC's it tracking the latest national party plaforms.
ACORN calls for national rent freeze
In light of the tariffs Canada faces, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) wants to see a national rent freeze for at least three months from whatever party forms government.
ACORN is a national union of low-to-middle income renters with offices across the country.
"We saw that in the pandemic the government acted too late and so many people lost their housing and, you know, it caused even more chaos, so we want, we need whoever is elected to be proactive on these things," national ACORN representative Nichola Talyor said.
Taylor said the organization also wants to see a national rent control plan to ban "predatory practices" like fixed term leases.
Gilmer, from the anti-poverty ministry, echoed those thoughts on rent control.
"The problem is that we've had several major [rent] spikes over the course of the last 30 years and if we had had reasonable rent control legislation in place, we wouldn't be dealing with the situation that we are now," Gilmer said.
Derek Cameron, a renter and PhD student in Saskatoon, said he's also open to rent control, but still wants to see policy that thinks long term, nudging municipalities to loosen rules that make building housing more complicated.
"I think things like rent control and stuff like that, they certainly can work, but they do need to be paired with things that are going to make it easier to build," Cameron said.
For now, Cameron said he's undecided on who he's going to vote for.
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