Action on renovictions part of city's efforts to protect tenants and affordable housing supply.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TORONTO - Tomorrow, four City Councillors will ask the city's Planning and Housing Committee to study how Hamilton's recent renoviction by-law could be used in Toronto.
The joint request from Councillors Paula Fletcher, Mike Colle, Frances Nunziata and Parthi Kandavel would direct city staff to include an analysis on how the approach taken in Hamilton's Renovation and Tenant Relocation By-law could be applied here in the upcoming report on a renoviction by-law for Toronto.
"Profit-driven renovictions are reducing our already limited supply of affordable housing and impacting many tenants across the city" said Councillor Paula Fletcher. "Hamilton's by-law is a unique and innovative example of how the city can protect renters from this practice."
The city's forthcoming renoviction report comes after the establishment of the Subcommittee on the Protection of Affordable Rental Housing during the 2018-2022 City Council term to specifically deal with renovictions, a practice where landlords evict an existing tenant so they can rent their property at a much higher rate by claiming they'll complete major renovations that require the unit to be vacated.
Chaired by Fletcher, the subcommittee heard from many tenants and advocates of instances where renters were pushed to leave their home with little to no evidence of major renovations actually planned for the unit. The work of the subcommittee led to the creation of the framework for a renovictions by-law and the upcoming staff report expected to recommend the city adopt and enforce its own renovictions by-law.
"I heard from many tenants who left their homes when, as it turned out, only minor, cosmetic changes took place before the unit was back on the market for double or even triple the rent" said Fletcher. "Many tenants have been forced out of their long time homes and neighbourhoods when they actually had the right to stay."
Hamilton's new by-law requires landlords get a renovation permit if issuing an N13. The landlord must provide details on the scope of work, including engineer certification that the unit is uninhabitable during renovations.
If a tenant exercises their formal right under the Residential Tenancies Act to move back into the unit at the same rate, landlords must also provide the tenant with suitable relocation assistance. The new by-law also requires tenants be notified of their rights once issued a N13, including filing a right of first refusal.
If approved tomorrow, analysis on Hamilton's by-law will be included in a staff report expected this spring.
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