The authors of a recent opinion piece in The Guardian, Housing is a human right: P.E.I. tenants deserve a rent freeze, make a case worth taking seriously: Housing is a human right.
However, Rental Housing Providers of P.E.I. strongly disagrees that a rent freeze is the answer to the Island’s housing challenges.
The discussion needs to recognize an important reality: a rent freeze freezes revenue, but it does not freeze the cost of operating a rental unit.
Property taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, repairs, building materials, contractors and other operating costs continue to increase. Older rental buildings face an additional challenge, because they require substantial capital investment to replace aging roofs, windows, heating systems, plumbing and electrical systems.
This is precisely why the director can set different rates for heated and unheated units. Heating costs do not track general inflation. A freeze discards that tool. At zero, the provider who buys the oil and the provider who does not are treated exactly the same.
P.E.I. already has rent regulation, and it is among the tightest in the country. The 2026 allowable increase was set at two per cent, and by statute it can never exceed three. An increase above that must be applied for unit by unit and cannot exceed three percentage points more. P.E.I. is also the only province where the annual cap applies to the rental unit itself. Rent cannot be reset between tenancies.
The authors point to 2023 as precedent, and it is worth remembering what actually happened that year. In September 2022, IRAC weighed the evidence and set increases of 5.2 per cent for unheated units and 10.8 per cent for heated ones. The legislative assembly, for political reasons, then passed a bill overriding that and imposing zero.
The government did freeze rents in 2023 by displacing an evidence-based decision with a political one. Providers absorbed the difference.
A complete rent freeze would make an already difficult situation even more challenging.
We also question the characterization of private landlords as simply “for-profit actors” whose primary objective is to maximize profits. A reasonable return is not the same thing as excessive profit. Rental housing is an investment that requires significant capital, ongoing maintenance and real financial risk.
It also matters who is left. Many P.E.I. providers are small operators, and half our members own five units or fewer. They may own one or two rental properties, or an older building that needs constant investment. The large corporate owners the authors have in mind are largely the ones who have already gone: between 2023 and 2025, Killam sold roughly 1,188 of its P.E.I. rental units and kept 77.
A large owner spreads a bad year across a thousand doors. A provider with two units has nothing to spread it across. If the financial reality of providing rental housing becomes unsustainable, some owners will sell, convert properties to other uses, or simply decide not to invest again. And when they sell, the unit rarely stays a rental.
That outcome would not help tenants.
P.E.I.’s rental market remains tight. CMHC put the provincial vacancy rate at 2.1 per cent in 2025, up from 0.8 the year before, and as the authors themselves note it remains below 1 per cent for the most affordable quarter of units. Both figures argue the same way. The Island needs more rental housing, not fewer people willing to provide it.
Rather than a blanket rent freeze, the government should look at targeted measures that protect tenants while allowing providers to maintain and improve their properties. This could include greater flexibility for older buildings, reasonable provisions for significant capital expenditures, and targeted housing assistance for tenants who are struggling with affordability.
We should also recognize that tenants and providers are not opposing sides in a permanent battle. Most providers want good tenants who pay their rent and take care of their homes. Most tenants want someone who responds to problems, maintains the property and provides a safe and stable place to live.
We need both.
Housing is a human right, and we do not dispute it. The same UN covenant names food in the very same sentence. Canada does not deliver the right to food by capping what a grocer may charge. It delivers it by supporting incomes. A right is a claim on all of us, met through the government. It is not a bill handed to whoever owns the building.
Rental Housing Providers of P.E.I. believes housing policy should focus on creating more housing, preserving the rental housing we already have, encouraging investment in older buildings, and helping Islanders who genuinely cannot afford their housing costs.
If we want affordable rental housing tomorrow, we need to make sure providing rental housing remains sustainable today.
The solution is not providers versus tenants. The solution is balance.
June Ellis
Executive Director, Rental Housing Providers of P.E.I.
This commentary by June Ellis, Executive Director, was first published in The Guardian on August 19, 2026.