The leader of the provincial New Democrats is calling on the government to put an immediate ban on evictions.
“One of the key measures that we're asking people to take is to stay home and if they're going to stay home, they need to have a home,” said Ryan Meili on a teleconference call March 25.
“Other provinces have already made declarations that evictions won't be allowed during this time. We're asking the premier to step up and do the same: no evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, whether that's social housing, private rental housing – or commercial rentals as well – that nobody's being put out on the street.”
The NDP leader said there’s lot of people who are facing the risk of being evicted because their income has been affected due to their job being affected by COVID-19.
“This is a real concern for people and they’ve got less money coming in while rent is going to be due in a few days.”
Meili said the ban should last as long as necessary for public safety, like the closure of schools and other anti-COVID-19 measures. He also said that renters shouldn’t have to go through a process of proving they are in financial distress, as the reasons for such distress would be many and would make things more complicated.
