The lone MP in the federal New Democrat leadership race is calling for Ottawa to take over rent regulation and step in to cover missed payments for tenants she says are at risk of homelessness.Edmonton Strathcona MP Heather McPherson said housing policy can no longer be left to landlords or local governments, arguing Parliament should impose national rent controls and intervene directly in the rental market.“Safe, affordable housing is non-negotiable,” McPherson said in a campaign statement, adding her plan would rein in corporate landlords and end what she described as profit-driven neglect of tenants.Blacklock's Reporter said in a detailed housing platform, McPherson proposed federal rent regulation, measures to block what she called unfair evictions, and the creation of a homelessness prevention fund to provide emergency rent relief for people and families facing immediate displacement. She also called for free housing for people with chronic support needs, though no cost estimates were provided.The MP further proposed establishing a national public builder, structured as a federal Crown corporation, to deliver co-op and affordable housing. .She said Ottawa should declare a national housing emergency to “marshal the necessary resources,” but offered few details on how such an effort would be carried out.McPherson also said she would push for a national ban on corporate ownership of apartment buildings and single-family homes and eliminate roughly $54 million a year in preferential tax treatment for real estate investment trusts. Public-sector unions, including the Canadian Union of Public Employees, have also argued for scrapping those tax measures.According to the Parliamentary Budget Office, real estate investment trusts are permitted to flow income through to investors and pay tax only on undistributed profits, a structure that analysts say benefits trust investors, particularly non-resident and non-taxable investors.Trusts now control about 20% of Canada’s purpose-built private rental apartments. The Budget Office has documented rapid growth in the sector, with trust assets rising from $80 million in 1993 to $76 billion in 2021, and rental units owned by trusts increasing to nearly 200,000 over that period.McPherson is currently the only sitting MP seeking the federal NDP leadership. Party members are set to choose a new leader on March 29 in Winnipeg.
