Not-for-profits are racing to save affordable apartments. But critics say we should just build new ones [Video]

Marleny Ozuna Felix seems to have won the lottery of landlords. 

For as long as she stays in her building, the single mother of three has a guarantee that her home will remain affordable. 

She pays $964 per month for a one-bedroom apartment in Burnaby, B.C. — roughly $1,390 cheaper than the average rent for a unit that size in the area. Depending on the maintenance needs of the building, there will be years her rent doesn’t increase. And in the years it does, it will never exceed provincial guidelines. 

When her building went up for sale, chances were high a for-profit landlord would purchase it, be it a small private equity firm or a large corporation whose focus is to make a return for investors.

Instead, the new owner is Aunt Leah’s Properties, a not-for-profit organization whose main objective is to keep rent accessible and to preserve what’s left …