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Bonita Zarrillo

Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
NDP

Port Moody—Coquitlam
British Columbia
Voting Attendance: 67%
Expenses Last Quarter: $129,260.13

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 268 - Dec/14/23

Dec/14/23 7:04:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for the comments. I certainly appreciate him for highlighting the work of SHARE in our community. SHARE is one of the largest organizations in our community and has so many services for people. I really appreciate the work SHARE does in the Tri-Cities. The member talked about the rapid housing initiative, and at this point in time, I am trying to reach Infrastructure Canada to talk about modular housing with regard to the rapid housing initiative. The member knows that the rapid housing initiative is well oversubscribed, with many denials because it is not enough. I want to go back to the fact that a one-bedroom apartment in Coquitlam is renting for $2,350 right now. We cannot ask people to wait for homes. They cannot afford homes right now. They need action. Again, will the government front-load its investments into co-ops and purpose-built rentals, immediately match the B.C. rental protection fund and help those who need to get into a home today?

175 words

Context: House Hansard - 201 - May/29/23

Ms. Bonita Zarrillo (Port Moody—Coquitlam, NDP)

May/29/23 2:50:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Halifax is over $2,500. That is a 25% jump from last year, and workers' wages are not keeping up. People can no longer afford to pay rent because the Liberals are allowing big housing corporations to buy up rental units and jack up the rents. Families should not have to compete with multi-million dollar corporations to find a place to call home. When are the Liberals going to stand up for Canadians and make rent affordable?

89 words

Context: House Hansard - 198 - May/17/23

Ms. Bonita Zarrillo (Port Moody—Coquitlam, NDP)

May/17/23 12:13:56 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Liberals do not understand the housing crisis in this country. The Prime Minister said this week that “we have taken significant steps on supporting low-income renters, including a $500 housing benefit top-up”. Five hundred dollars is is supposed to end the housing crisis in Canada? I could not believe my ears. I have some news for the Prime Minister, the price for an unfurnished one-bedroom rental home in Metro Vancouver has climbed to $3,000 a month. Families, persons with disabilities, single mothers, students and seniors in Vancouver can no longer afford to live there. The housing crisis has only gotten worse under the Liberal government. A study out of UBC this week says that B.C. renters are the most likely to be evicted, 10.5% of B.C. renters have been forced to move in the last five years due to sales of their rental home and renovictions. That is compared to 5.9% in the rest of Canada. The Prime Minister said, “We are introducing measures to end rent evictions.”. News again to the Prime Minister, whatever those measures are they are not working and they are doubly not working in B.C. At Winsome Place apartment building in Surrey, the low-income residents got a surprise in their mailboxes this month. The landlord delivered them a document labelled "agreement to above guideline rent increase". The landlord said that if they did not sign and accept a $400 increase in their rents their units would be sold in the next few months. These were seniors who have lived in that apartment building for a very long time. This is the reality in the rental housing market right now. The government is more than halfway through its 10-year national housing strategy, with more than $31 billion spent, yet the costs of housing are not going down. More people are going homeless and CMHC says that we need more financialization of housing to solve the problem. Really, more financialization of housing? They want more investors to use the luxury condos as investment vehicles? The government is subsidizing developers and corporate investors with its low-interest loans. This is not a solution to the rental housing crisis for mid- and low-income Canadians. What the Liberal government continue to not understand is that this is a housing crisis and it is causing other social crises in our communities. It is causing homelessness. It is causing opioid overdoses and it is increasing social problems in the lives of Canadians. The lackadaisical attitude of the Liberals to truly fix this crisis and instead hold on to their market-driven solution of trickle-down “condo-nomics” is hurting people. Just consider the disgusting comments in QP today from the Conservative leader in regards to ending clinically proven safe supply. If the government does not get serious about creating affordable housing and getting Canadians into homes, more people will die. When are the Liberals going to take the housing crisis seriously and make housing truly affordable for all Canadians?

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Member of Parliament

Bonita Zarrillo