'Somebody please help me out': Renter, landlord speak on Greater Victoria housing supply

The results of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) latest report are in, and if you’re looking to rent a unit in the capital region, the results are not in your favour.

"We saw the vacancy rate decline to one per cent in purpose built rentals and zero percent in condo rentals," said Pershing Sun, senior economic analyst with CMHC.

These numbers are the result of CMHC’s annual rental market survey. It put the capital region in a tough spot nationally for 2021.

"This makes Victoria one of the markets with the lowest vacancy rates in Canada," said Sun. "It’s actually even lower than Vancouver’s."

It should be noted that CMHC only compiles data on the condo rental market and purpose built rentals. It does not look into the basement suite market.

The national average vacancy rate for purpose-built two-bedroom rentals sits at 3.1 per cent.

Greater Victoria shares the lowest vacancy rate in the country with Peterborough and Halifax. Both are sitting at one per cent as well.

On the pricing side, the national average for a 2-bedroom unit goes for $1,167 a month.

The most expensive place to rent in Canada in 2021 was Vancouver at $1,824 a month for a two-bedroom. Behind Vancouver is Toronto at $1,666 a month, followed by Greater Victoria at $1,571 a month.

'INUNDATED WITH PEOPLE LOOKING'

Greater Victoria resident Shannon Robbins owns two basement suites and manages six others.

She says, when she posts a unit for rent, she sees how desperate people have become to find a place to call home in this nearly impossible rental market.

"Just flooded, inundated with people looking," she said.

"Within seconds I get 50 to 100 applicants of people asking to see the place."

Currently, she is getting $1,450 a month for a furnished two-bedroom suite. She says she knows she could get a lot more for that unit, but won’t.

"I could jack it up to $2,400 if I wanted," said Robbins. "That’s what the market says but I don’t think that’s fair."

Renter Khalid Elbyok just secured a rental on Friday, but he almost left the region if it wasn’t for a little online luck after posting on social media.

"In order to find a room you really have to hustle," he said.

"I just explained that if I don’t get a room now I’m going to be leaving the city and I love this city and can somebody please help me out."

He will be paying $500 a month for a room in a shared accommodation, and he knows he got a deal.

"It’s not a surprise I guess, unfortunately, that we’ve seen such a huge spike in rents and a drop in vacancy," said Peter Milobar, opposition finance critic and MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson.

Milobar says it’s time that the NDP government fulfills the promise it made to renters in B.C. years ago.

"They were promised a $400 renters rebate from this government in the 2017 election, and again in the 2020 election," said Milobar.

"The minister's simple response to us was frankly a flippant, 'We’re working on it,' he said. "That’s not a good enough answer five years into this government's promise of a $400 renters rebate."

On Friday, B.C.'s Minister Responsible for Housing, David Eby, told CTV News that the renters rebate was still coming.

"The government remains committed to bringing in a renters rebate during it’s mandate," he said in a statement.

The statement went on to say that the NDP government won’t be taking any lessons from the old government, which he says would cancel the speculation tax, repeal renters protections and make renters pay even more.