Rent, mortgage costs concerning for Albertans despite cooling inflation [Video]

Canada’s annual inflation rate has reached the central bank’s two per cent target for August, but many consumers in Alberta are still feeling the pinch of high costs for shelter, rents and mortgages.

The ease of price pressures was primarily helped by a drop in the prices of gasoline, telephone services, clothing and footwear, but mortgages and rents continue to cool at a tepid pace, maintaining their relentless rise.

That’s a concern for Calgarians like Kiesha Mastrodimos who recently had to move out of her Bridgeland apartment because of a $315 increase to her monthly rent.

The 28-year-old, who is a quadriplegic and uses a wheelchair with many accessibility needs, feels that the rising cost of living is putting many at risk of homelessness.

On July 9, she was given the notice of a rent increase which stipulated that she would have to commit to a year lease, as opposed …