City staff have been sent back to the drawing board for a feasibility study on a possible renoviction bylaw that would protect tenants after votes by the planning and housing committee on Wednesday.
Meeting for the first time in the new year, the committee heard two motions from Somerset Coun. Ariel Troster, one of which advocates for an amendment to the provincial Residential Tenancies Act, and the other which directs staff to examine the possibility of a renoviction license and bylaw.
Staff released a report last week recommending that council wait for further research before implementing a renoviction bylaw, following a request from council from May 2024, and Wednesday’s motion requires staff to review similar bylaws implemented in other cities and identify possible funding sources for a renoviction bylaw.
The bylaw would impact situations where landlords evict tenants to complete a unit renovation or repair, then replace the tenants with a new resident at a higher rent cost.
Earlier this week, staff released a report that said implementing such a bylaw would require more time and data and that it would interfere with provincial regulation.
The Wednesday committee meeting heard from 24 public delegates, including representatives from The Ottawa Mission, the Carleton University Students’ Association, the Alliance to End Homelessness and ACORN about the community and personal impacts of renoviction, as well as its contribution to the city’s homelessness crisis.
Aileen Leo, director of communications at the Ottawa Mission, stressed the importance of preventing homelessness, explaining that the shelter is “far over 100 per cent capacity.”
Troster’s motions require staff to communicate further with the province and locate the data and resources that would be required to implement the bylaw, if approved by council. This includes ongoing examination of a similar bylaw in Hamilton, Ont., which came into effect on Jan. 1.
Karen Andrews, another public delegate, spoke on behalf of the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), said “Ottawa has a problem”, but that “there is precedent” for a bylaw, referencing Hamilton as well as New Westminster, which introduced a bylaw amendment in 2019 to protect tenants who may be displaced by construction or renovation projects on their unit.
In her closing remarks, Troster said it is “rare” for her to table a motion that “contradicts” a staff report and thanked city staff for working on the file. She also said that with the city having identified housing and homelessness as a key priority, part of the solution is to “turn the tap off on one source of homelessness.”
“I just want to clarify that voting for this motion does not mean you are voting for the bylaw,” she continued. “What you’re voting for is for staff to continue doing the work.”
She also stressed that the motion would not create any red tape for building housing, but rather “dissuade” landlords from renovicting tenants.
Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper, who is chair of the committee, added, “I have no confidence that the province is going to enact these rules anytime soon… So, anything that the City can do in the meantime will hopefully make it a little bit less, as (one delegate) said, ‘legal to buy property just to kick people out’.”
The first motion, which directs staff to advocate for changes with the provincial government, passed unanimously. The second, which directed staff to continue evaluating the feasibility of a renoviction bylaw, also passed. Wilson Lo, councillor for Barrhaven East, was the only councillor who dissented.
The issue will be brought to council on Jan. 22.
