N.B. Human Rights Commission wants more tenants to report discrimination in housing

New Brunswick's Human Rights Commission is encouraging people to come forward with experiences of discrimination in housing, saying they've seen an increasein complaints over the last year.

Sixty complaints of discrimination in housing were reported by tenants between April 1, 2020 and March 31,2021, said commission chair Claire Roussel-Sullivan. Only one complaint was brought forward the previous year.

"With the increased number of newcomers to New Brunswick and the number of people moving to New Brunswick, especially during the last year with COVID-19, we want to make sure the process of obtaining housing is done in a dignified and respectful manner," said Roussel-Sullivan.

She hopes the new guidelines will help tenants identify discrimination when they've experienced it, while also educating landlords on what constitutes discrimination.

According to the commission, discrimination in housing often impacts people of colour, low-income renters, those with children, and those with disabilities.

It can include raising rent on a family while not asking for rent increases from other tenants, withholding repairs, harassment, or a failure to respond to accommodation requests by tenants with disabilities.

It can also happen before a lease is signed. For instance, landlords may post advertisements that seek out "working professionals," excluding applicants with families or those unable to work because of a disability.

Nineteen per cent of residents in New Brunswick reported trouble finding a home because they have children, according 4,623 tenantssurveyed in a review of the rental market released by the province in May.

Legalcosts deter tenants from coming forward

The province's tenant coalitionwelcomesthe new guidelines, but says they want to see legal aid provided to low-income tenants to support them through the process of filing a complaint.

"Enforcement remains a very big problem," said Aditya Rao, a Fredericton human rights lawyer and organizer with the New Brunswick Tenants Coalition. "It's prohibitively expensive to get legal counsel to fight any of these things. There's no legal aid in New Brunswick for housing rights."

Jody Carr, a lawyer who was once the minister responsible for the Human Rights Commission, still recommends that tenants come forward with complaints, even if they can't afford a lawyer.

"People at the Human Rights Commission will do their best to navigate your complaint through the system," said Carr, who now assists tenants in his work as a human rights lawyer in Fredericton.

"The staff there are very helpful, and they will provide support in how to put a complaint in."

While legal costs can deter complaints, Raostressed that the fear of retaliation can also keep people from speaking out.

Rental laws in the province don't cap rent increases, and landlords are not required to justify the reason for not renewing a lease, unless a tenant has lived there for more than five years.

As a result, many worry they'll receive abusive rent increases or that their landlord will refuse to renew the lease if they speak up about discrimination. It can be challenging for tenants to prove this constitutes discrimination, Rao said.

"Tenants are faced with a very difficult choice. Are they going to try and fight these human rights violations, or are they going to try and make sure they have a roof over their head?" Rao said.

In Quebec, landlords can only evict tenants if they are repossessing the home or if they want to make major renovations. Tenants also have the right to challenge the eviction by going to the province's housing tribunal. Tenants over the age of 70, those who have lived in the unit for 10 years, and those with incomes low enough to make them eligible for subsidized housing are also protected from eviction.

Roussel-Sullivan says tenants should reach out to the commission for advice on how to proceed, instead of trying to copewith the situation on their own.

"Reprisal is also a ground for a complaint, so if they bring forward a complaint to a landlord and there is reprisal of any type, that is also covered by the law in New Brunswick," she said.