Groups say tenant office 'needs teeth' as discrimination complaints rise

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The New Brunswick Human Rights Commission has reported a rise in allegations of discriminatory practices in rental housing in the province. 

On Monday, the commission’s chair, Phylomène Zangio, said in a statement that from 2022 to 2023, housing-related complaints escalated from four per cent to 13 per cent of total complaints received by the commission. She said in particular, the commission has noted a concerning number of alleged incidents of discrimination against people based on family status.

“(It’s) a worrisome indicator of the state of housing rights in our province,” Zangio said. 

Tobin LeBlanc Haley, a founding member of the NB Coalition for Tenants Rights and an assistant professor of sociology at UNB who also co-directs the school’s Housing, Mobilization, and Engagement Research Lab, agreed that the number is concerning, but said it likely doesn’t represent the total number of New Brunswickers who’ve faced housing discrimination. 

“That’s people who have had the time, wherewithal, and resources to complain. I assume it’s kind of the tip of the iceberg,” she said. 

The coalition is nearing completion of a study on tenant experiences in the province. LeBlanc Haley said one of the most common themes they’ve found is rental discrimination at the hands of landlords.

“Whether that’s discrimination on the basis of being someone who is receiving social assistance, whether that’s discrimination on the basis of disability or whether that’s discrimination on the basis of family status, we’ve heard different reports across the board,” she said. 

In New Brunswick, housing discrimination based on 16 protected grounds is prohibited under the New Brunswick Human Rights Act. This includes race, colour, national origin, ancestry, or social condition. 

In February, Nikki Kennedy, a housing case manager with the YWCA in Moncton and a member of the tenant advocacy group New Brunswick ACORN, told Brunswick News she often sees cases of discrimination.

“There are a lot of landlords that are discriminatory towards children,” she said. “Landlords will come up with excuses as to why they don’t want to rent to this person. A lot of the time they will say the apartment is already rented when it’s actually not.”

She said without proper housing, parents may lose custody of their children if Child Protection steps in. Kennedy said she’s dealt with a lot of cases of people trying to get their children back. 

Another common form of discrimination Kennedy sees often is discrimination based on social conditions. When she began working as a case manager last spring, she said the province gave out 25 rent subsidies to people experiencing homelessness. The subsidy was attached to the person and not the unit, so they just needed to find a landlord who would rent to them.

“Out of 25 of those, I believe only six or seven of them got housing,” Kennedy said. She said after facing a number of rejections, some gave up hope and stopped contacting her.

Kennedy said she doesn’t feel the province is doing enough and that the current system is too reactive with the burden of proof falling on the complainant. 

Tenants’ office needs teeth

LeBlanc Haley said there a measures the province can put in place to help those facing discrimination, including providing tenants with legal aid and creating a “real tribunal” that can intervene in issues immediately and provide tenants with quick and easy access to an officer who can support them. 

“We need a Tenant and Landlord Relations Office that has teeth,” she said. 

Like Kennedy, LeBlanc Haley said the current way the commission works within the province is reactive and puts a lot of work on the part of the party that has experienced discrimination. She said there could be an option to proactively make reports of discriminatory practices to the commission. 

She said she asked the commission about proactive reporting about discriminatory postings, but was told that they don’t have a process for this kind of reporting.

Alexandra Fournier, senior education officer with the commission, said they only have the jurisdiction to investigate a situation where an aggrieved person has filed a complaint.

“The New Brunswick Human Rights Commission’s authority and mandate is determined by the New Brunswick Human Rights Act. Therefore, there are limits to what the Commission can do,” he said.

He said this means the commission cannot stop or prevent situations from happening, including evictions and it can not independently investigate acts of discrimination, or look into systemic or widespread issues.

Willy Scholten, president of the New Brunswick Apartment Owners Association, said they do their part to educate landlords in the province. 

“We encourage all rental housing providers in NB to educate themselves on the NB Human Rights guidelines. We have sent out information to our members and have held webinars on this topic,” he said. 

Scholten said the group expects that the vast majority of rental housing providers are following these guidelines and said they would be happy to work with the commission on getting additional information out to their members.

In her Monday statement, Zangio encouraged tenants to learn about their rights and responsibilities and urged landlords to have full awareness of their responsibilities and obligations “so that everyone is treated with equality, dignity, and inclusion in housing transactions in our province.” 

“Housing is a protected area under the act, and housing rights are human rights,” she said.