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COMMENTARY: Housing is a human right: P.E.I. renters deserve a break

It’s that time of year again, when the province consults with landlords and tenants on the maximum allowable rent increase for the coming year. Our recommendation is a rent freeze, meaning the maximum allowable rent increase should be zero, as was done in 2023.

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In P.E.I., renters are more likely to experience core housing need and struggle with affordability compared to home owners. Based on the last census, an alarming 30.3 per cent of renters are living in homes that aren’t affordable to them, paying 30 per cent or more of their income on shelter costs.

Rents in the province are also very high: $1,067 a month for a one bedroom and $1,483 for a three bedroom, rates which have surely gone up since these were collected by CMHC last fall.

The 2025 P.E.I. living wage report showed that food and shelter are the two largest expenses for Islanders. It also showed that there’s a whopping gap of almost six dollars between the living wage of $22.77 and the current minimum wage. A rent freeze would serve as one of the many cost-of-living measures urgently needed........

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