Discussions

Hoping someone in the rental biz or knowledge can help. I live in Manitoba Housing. It's based on your income. But there is a ceiling rate that it doesn't go over. The past four years the ceiling rate has gone up $40-$50 a month increase. So I get a letter from Housing and I'm expecting another 40-50 increase for the next year. Turns out it's about a $350 increase per month. Ceiling rate is gone, and is now truly based on my income. I get that. What I'm wondering is if they are allowed to increase the rent by so much? A buddy told me landlords are only able to increase rent by a certain percent each year. So is that true? Or is Housing exempt from this? $350 a month is a lot of money taking away from my family and it's tough already.

Seeing how you're basically getting a subsidy when you're paying below market rent, are you sure it's not that your subsidy's gone away (perhaps because your income increased)?  
 
Has the market rate increased by $350, or did only your portion go up that amount? If the market rate increased by that amount, I would at least call the office to ask why. But if it's just your portion, that means something's happened to how they calculate your rent or the subsidy that's available.  
 
Normally private landlords can only increase rent by a fixed amount percentage-wise, but even then they can apply to increase it more under certain circumstances. But I think MB housing works a bit differently because there's 2 sets of rates - market rate (the full amount, basically what it's worth) and the subsidized rate based on income.

boat here. Mine went up 200.00 because I have to put in overtime hours at work. I don't get anywhere near that on my pay but it goes by gross earnings so I get screwed over.

Sounds about right. You don't need subsidy anymore. They are still charging lower than market rental rates.  
 
http://www.gov.mb.ca/housing/mh/progs/pil.html#nos

I would think since it's based on income, they are aloud to increase it to be based on such. Call residential tendencies branch, they're located in the provincial building.

i believe MB housing is exempt from some of the RTB rule but you can find all the rules by searching residential tenancies mb, you can then read the info or hone them and find out  
 
i am confused tho, did you mean 350 a year? because in one sentence you say $40-50 a month then say $350 a month, i get every penny counts and any increase is a hit but if its based off your income you have been and are likley still subsidized which means you are already not paying the true costs of the rental which is better then lots get  
 
you can also talk to the housing manager and clarify the increase

At $350 increase a month you were either not working before and just now working which your increase reflects, or you are making way too much to live in Manitoba Housing!

3wildboyz said "At $350 increase a month you were either not working before and just now working which your increase reflects, or you are making way too much to live in Manitoba Housing! "

I do believe according to that link I posted the household probably made over the subsidy living amount. Then you get bumped into the affordable housing category. That puts you more in line of real market values. I know a while back on the news they talked about people pulling in 6 figure incomes while living in low income housing with low capped rent. This system allows for people who need it get it, hopefully better themselves such as this person did, move out and let someone else in.

I live in MB housing and just last week, my property manager was at the house going over all their new policies with me, these policies now i:nclude break downs of rent.  
 
I can say this much, when I was on assistance, my rent was $347/month for a 2 bedroom. (I have no idea what MB housing was covering in regards to subsidy.)  
 
When I Went back to work and was declaring my income, got myself off of assistance, my rent changed to $338/month (again I have no idea what MB housing was covering.)  
 
Just this past October, I received notice in the mail that my rent was going up based on my income because I received a raise at work. I will now be paying $504/month + hydro and any extra utilities I would like in regards to cable/internet.  
 
Now based on the new paperwork that my landlord gave me. the monthly rent for my unit is actually $986/month, I pay $504, MB Housing covers the difference of $482.  
 
Now if for whatever reeason they feel I have broken any of their policies, they can revoke that subsidy that they pay ($482) and I would be in charge of paying the full $986/mth.  
 
If your rent keeps increasing, its more than likely due to a change in your income, MB Housing has the authority to check your income tax with CRA. MB Housing has gone and revamped a lot of its policies. If you are truly unsure of something, I would contact your property manager and ask for an in person meeting to have them go over the break down with you for why you are paying what you are.  
 
 
Also keep in mind they have to give you 3 months notice before changing your rent.  
 
Edited by ~BooBoo~, 2016-11-24 13:21:03

This link shows a pretty decent breakdown of things.  
 
http://www.gov.mb.ca/housing/mh/progs/pil.html

I believe MB housing just adopted a new program which affected the scale of minimum and maximum amount of rent charged.  
 
Based on my income, I was paying the maximum amount they could charge for my unit in my area. The new program raised this maximum so in October I received a letter also. It stated that due to the new minimum-maximum scale... My rent would be increasing from $600 to $900 per month.  
 
I understand our incomes are reviewed annually. There was a minimal change in mine from 2014 - 2015 like within $100-$200. It's simply this new program they've adopted.  
 
I chose to give my notice. The way I see it, I can rent a non-housing residence for the same amount of money and face only minimal rent increases annually. MB housing was good for me at the time kind of like a transition home... but this whole increase thing gave me the nudge I needed to get out of housing and in to something that is more mine. Good luck to everyone else in the same situation its hard with such a large increase!