Have renters been forgotten this election campaign?
As owning becomes less affordable, more Canadians are renting — and some feel stuck
For years, Natasha Fedel has wanted to move out of her shabby one-bedroom apartment in Montreal's east end.
But rents have become so high she now feels stuck — and with a landlord attempting to force her and her neighbours out, Fedel is at a loss for where to go next.
Her situation reflects a growing issue for renters in the country, who make up a larger share of the population as buying becomes further out of reach for many.
Tenants like Fedel are left in precarious positions with little choice but to try and stay put.
"I don't have the means to rent a one-bedroom for $1,500, so I'm not really finding any solution right now. And finding roommates at 46 years old is a bit tough," said Fedel, who had to take years off work due to illness and is now a massage therapist.
Fedel has lived in her unit since 2001 and her monthly rent, at $578, reflects the longevity of her lease. Fedel says she's wanted more from her living space: maybe a balcony, more light, not to live on one of the city's noisiest streets anymore.
"If I knew how much costs would go up after the pandemic, I would have moved earlier," she said.
For this article, CBC News spoke with half a dozen renters who say they haven't felt heard in the federal election campaign so far.
Though U.S. tariffs have overshadowed much of the campaign, the tenants say they often feel overlooked by federal politicians — and worry how those tariffs will contribute to their woes.
"If you look at the housing platforms for the major parties, there really is a lack of language there that surrounds renters," said Alexandre Rivard, an assistant professor at Simon Fraser University's School of Public Policy.
Rivard says homeownership is ingrained in how housing developed in Canada, but that may have to change.
"The way housing prices are going in Canada, it's locked out a generation, more or less, from being able to own a house," he said.
Of the main political parties in the federal election, the NDP has made the most mentions of renters, with leader Jagmeet Singh saying he would ban bad corporate landlords and tie federal housing funds to rent control. Both he and Liberal Leader Mark Carney have vowed to build 500,000 homes in the next decade and use federal land to do so, though Singh has put more of an emphasis on non-profit housing.
Carney says he would create incentives for private developers to partner with the federal government and promote the development of prefabricated homes. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has vowed to make homeownership more accessible by removing the GST from homes up to $1.3 million. Carney made a similar announcement for homes up to $1 million.
Dennis Anthonipillai, 29, and his wife recently changed their minds about buying a home. The couple just moved into a new apartment building in East Vancouver. Anthonipillai, who happens to be a policy analyst for the B.C. government, says a boom in new builds in the city has helped cool the rental market.
"We found a slightly bigger place, but cheaper monthly payments," he said. The couple had been living in a 588-square-foot unit at $2,800. They now pay $2,100 for the first year, after which their monthly rent will go up to about $2,550.
While the pair had been hoping to buy, Anthonipillai says they'd spend even more on a mortgage for the same type of unit.
"It just didn't make sense for us to buy," he said. "If it means we're just renting for a long time, maybe for the rest of our lives, then I guess that's what it has to be."
Karen Connors, 68, has rented her whole life. She's lived in her apartment in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood that she shares with her daughter for close to 12 years.
When they moved in, the rent was $765 and has since gone up to $1,100, not including electricity and other monthly expenses.
"My daughter works part time and I'm on a disability pension, so we don't have a lot of money between us right now," said Connors, who has had fibromyalgia for 30 years and a number of accompanying ailments, including rheumatoid arthritis.
"I think it would be better for my daughter if she were off on her own. She's 34 now. But she just can't afford it."
When she has the energy, Connors does some freelance writing and makes soaps and creams to sell at craft fairs to supplement their income. She says low-income people seem to be an afterthought in this election.
Fedel agrees. She says single people with modest salaries are often overlooked by politicians.
"I always feel like middle-class people with families are the only ones who count," she said.
But even families in the middle are struggling.
Jennifer Smith, a youth worker in Toronto schools, rents a home in North York with her husband and two children at close to $3,200 a month, leaving them little room for other expenses.
"My credit card debt is — I pay it every month and it's basically not making a dent," Smith said.
Véronique Laflamme, a spokesperson for Quebec housing rights group FRAPRU, says this election in particular, with all the talk of tariffs, has failed to address the housing crisis at a time when solutions are most needed.
"For now, there are more questions than answers in the platforms of the two dominating parties, [the Liberals and Conservatives], and we're left with the impression that renters are largely forgotten," said Laflamme.
FRAPRU has joined a coalition of housing groups across Canada in calling for larger access to social, affordable and community housing.
Carney has argued that simply building more will free up existing affordable units, but Laflamme says there's no guarantee that will work. She says most of the existing federal and provincial funding already encourages new builds, but that new apartment buildings often end up offering units with high rents that the low-income people most affected by the housing crisis cannot afford.
She notes housing is a shared responsibility among all levels of government, which she says has often resulted in inaction.
Laflamme also wonders how the Liberals and Conservatives plan on financing their proposed GST cuts on home sales.
"Are they going to cut down on the tiny amounts already allocated to social housing? There are huge issues in this campaign and when we hear about housing, it doesn't seem to be about tenants," she said.
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