Skyrocketing Rents in California Signal a Broader US Housing Crisis

In California and across the country, housing is growing increasingly expensive. Since California's housing crisis is the most acute, the fight for rent control is heating up across the state. But social housing systems in places like Singapore and Vienna, along with community land trusts provide different solutions for expensive housing.

Three of the country's most expensive cities are located in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of July, median rent for a one-bedroom in San Francisco is $3,450/month, according to Zumper. Median rent for a one-bedroom in Oakland is $2,100/month, while San Jose's median rent is $2,390/month. As usual, San Francisco remains the most expensive city in the country. San Jose is third most expensive and Oakland is sixth. Concord's median rent is $1,620/month, which is a 5 percent increase from last year. In Los Angeles, median rent for a one-bedroom is $2,100/month.

Rental Woes: Prices Jump, Vacancy Shrinks For Vancouver, Toronto

After a trying search, Jacob Butula has finally found a place to rent in Vancouver. But the apartment on the top floor of a house is far from ideal. Only a sheet separates his room from the living room that he will soon share with three roommates.

One roommate has promised to build him a makeshift wooden wall to replace the sheet. But it still means everyone living there will have easy access to his room.

Canadian military is raising the rent — and hackles.

OTTAWA — The families and single men and women who live in the military’s 12,000 housing units across Canada will be facing a rent hike on April 1.

The average increase across the 32 bases will be slightly more than two per cent. Some will pay more, some less.

But that’s only the tip of the military housing iceberg.

What irks many residents is the well-documented dilapidated state of the aging houses and the federal government’s freezing of a “post living differential allowance” at 2009 levels that former chief of defence staff Walter Natynczyk complained had created a “haves and have-nots” situation for forces members renting military housing.

Ontario tenants hammered with double-digit rent hikes

When Sacha Proctor received a notice from his landlord that his rent would increase 17.6 per cent on May 1, he tried to move to a similar unit with a lower price tag in the same building.

“But they refused to meet with us,” he said.

“The refused to tell us why we got the high increase, refused to let us transfer to a cheaper unit or what other similar units were renting for.”

Toronto real estate: Condo rents hit record high as would-be homebuyers stay on sidelines

Would-be first-time homebuyers are fuelling such unprecedented demand for rental condos across the GTA that demand far outstrips supply, with average rents surging to a record $1,856 per month, says a new report by condo research firm Urbanation.

Since mortgage lending rules were tightened last July, pushing many first-time buyers to the sidelines, demand for rental condos has skyrocketed, says the report released Tuesday. The number of condos leased via the MLS jumped 31 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 over the same period a year earlier.

Condo renters pay hefty price for downtown living

Kerri Lynn McAllister was shocked last month to receive notice of an almost 10 per cent increase — $150 a month — on the downtown condo she and her boyfriend had been renting for $1,625.

She was even more surprised to find out the hike — three times what’s allowed for most apartments under provincial rent controls — was perfectly legal.

Regina Tenants Face Huge Rent Hike, Minister Says No Rent Control Option In Place

REGINA - Residents of a Regina apartment block say they feel like "faceless people" and are frustrated after their building was recently sold to a Calgary company that has implemented massive rent hikes.

In some cases, the tenants say, rents are going up 77 per cent.

Pat Colpitts, a senior who has lived in the building for nine years, says the rent on her small two bedroom apartment is $675, but come Sept. 1 it will jump to $1,195.

45% Rent Hike 'Unbelievable,' East Van Tenants Say

Tenants in an East Vancouver apartment building are fighting the landlord’s attempts to impose a 45-per-cent rent increase.

Many of the tenants are living on seniors’ and disability pensions and say that big a rent hike would be a financial disaster for them.

“I've been going to the food bank up here, which is where I'm going now, and that helps,” said tenant Adeline Saunders.

Saunders, 57, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, said her disability pension doesn't cover her bills now, and if her rent goes up, she'll be forced to choose between heat and food.

“Even though they say they put the double windows in here, it’s still freezing in here," said Saunders.

Three dozen seniors live in the 42-year-old building on East 6th Avenue, called Lions Manor, which is undergoing renovations and safety upgrades.

The building is owned by the Mount Pleasant Housing Society, a non-profit organization set up by the Mount Pleasant Lions Club.

Tenant Andy Lai, 72, said he is stressed after receiving notice of the planned hike.

“It’s unbelievable that the rent increase is so much more than the allowable legal limit,” said Lai.

In 2012, B.C. landlords are allowed to raise rents by 4.3 percent.