Calgary renters are speaking out after 'astronomical' rent hikes

Residents of a Calgary apartment building are speaking out after a new property management group says it will raise rents to unaffordable rates and evict tenants.

“Last year the rent went up $300, and this year the rent went up $500,” said Andrew Hartley, a southeast Calgary resident who runs Avenue Living near Macleod Trail and Southland Drive.

“The rent went up $1,000 a month, where do I get it?” – asks our compatriot Katrina Tindall. “I'm a brother on a limited income.”

Avenue Living received $150 million from the Canadian Infrastructure Bank (CIB) in 2022 to retrofit buildings with green technology. Residents claim the company is doubling down on skyrocketing rents.

“It was sad for me, but it was even more sad knowing that for many of our seniors this would be their last independent life,” says Hartley.

The CIB tells CityNews that the federal funding has not yet been used, in part because the crown corporation has “met the demands and assurances of rental building owners that the cost of CIB-funded building upgrades will not be used as justification for rent increases.”

But before the project starts, residents feel that they have nowhere to go.

“We don't have a voice,” said resident Sandra McCrone. “No one hears us, more people are afraid of homelessness.”

Residents say it's not just about rising rents, but also about reduced home security and maintenance.

Avenue Living also purchased the building across the street. Residents there say that the situation is exactly the same.

“There needs to be some kind of restriction on companies taking advantage of people,” says Cooper Laverdure, a resident of Laverdure. “Some form of responsibility and accountability to the people they serve.”

Laverdure told CityNews that he had lived in the building for several years and that things were not bad under the previous management team.

“Rents have never been so outrageous,” he says. “It was $10 here, $25 there, and then Avenue Living moved in. We only raised $350.

CityNews has reached out to Avenue Living for comment.