While B.C. drivers are getting money back, promised renters' rebate is long overdue, advocates say
NDP was quick to implement gas rebate, while plan to give tenants $400 a year was first announced in 2017
A recently announced rebate for drivers in British Columbia has left housing advocates wondering why the provincial government was so quick to respond to rising fuel prices while a rebate for soaring rents — first promised by the B.C. NDP in 2017 — has yet to become a reality.
The fuel rebate was announced last week to ease the financial burden of increased gas prices, and will give ICBC customers $110, while commercial drivers will receive $165.
But Jennifer Bradshaw, a member of volunteer advocacy group Abundant Housing, says the money to fund the rebate would have been better used elsewhere — and the delay in delivering a renters' rebate has had consequences in a housing market that is only getting more challenging.
"Low-income renters should really have those sort of supports and they should have happened much more quickly," she said.
"I'm really disappointed that they will prioritize and focus on this sort of rebate to happen quickly and not for those lower-income renters that really could have benefited from this sort of support when COVID hit."
Ahead of the 2017 provincial election in which the B.C. NDP came to power, the party pledged to help tenants with a $400 rebate to offset skyrocketing rents.
A renters' rebate was again a plank of the B.C. NDP's platform ahead of the 2020 election, with households earning up to $80,000 a year promised $400 a year.
In the legislature on Monday, Finance Minister Selina Robinson said the province is continuing to work on its commitment.
In a written statement to CBC, the Finance Ministry said as it continues to develop the renters' rebate, the province has done additional work to support tenants, including cutting two per cent from the maximum allowable rent increases allowed in the province, a change it says is currently saving the average family that rents about $1,000 a year.
Premier John Horgan defended the fuel rebate in the legislature on Monday, saying his government chose to give money from ICBC back to policyholders, unlike past governments who gave ICBC funds to "large corporations."
But Bradshaw said money from ICBC should be used to address affordability and climate change.
"I really don't know if... making sure that that is a revenue-neutral service is really necessary at this point when there are so many negative externalities to driving that aren't really accounted for," she said.
Rebate doesn't tackle transportation issues, critics say
Following last week's announcement, New Westminster Coun. Patrick Johnstone said via social media that giving drivers a rebate one day after TransLink's board of directors approved a transit fare hike for July 1 sends the wrong message during a climate emergency.
Johnstone said it's in ICBC's mandate to return surplus funds to policyholders, but addressing high gas prices is not part of its mandate. He said that money could be used to improve public transportation.
"I think that bridging that gap is where these surpluses could be spent, giving transportation options to people who don't have options right now," he said.
The Transportation Ministry said in a written statement that the B.C. government's support for public transit, such as making transit free for kids 12 and under, is unmatched in the rest of the country.
The province is working with Ottawa on a $750 million federal program to help public transit systems rebound from the pandemic with more information coming soon, the ministry said.
With files from Steven Webb and The Canadian Press