Rain Ready Ottawa is a program aimed at protecting waterways by awarding rebates to residents who undertake actions on their property that reduce the harmful impacts of stormwater runoff.

City staff explained the reason for expanding the program.

“[The existing rebate program] is one of our most effective tools,” they said. “Council directed staff to explore a low-rise MURB rebate when the RRO was approved in 2024.” 

The proposed program expansion would apply only to low-rise MURBs (buildings under three storeys), including cooperative housing, condominiums, rental housing, and affordable housing. Rebates for MURBs could amount to as much as $30,000. 

Although the new rebate stream will be funded out of the existing program budget of $500,000, with $100,000 specifically allocated to low-rise MURBs, city staff clarified that availability of the existing stream for private residents is not expected to be impacted. 

Councillor Theresa Kavanagh (Bay) expressed her support for the expansion, but wondered about how this might impact the existing program’s capacity. 

“I think we have to grow it. I worry that we have a backlog, and we as a council have to look at the budget,” she said. “Because this program should be expanded. It’s been a huge success.” 

City staff clarified that there is no backlog currently. “We don’t have a backlog when it comes to rebate application itself… The intent of this is to help us further maximize the budget that we have right now.” 

The committee approved the motion, which will be taken to the next city council meeting on May 27.

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The motion, moved at Wednesday’s meeting by Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stephanie Plante and seconded by Somerset Coun. Ariel Troster, confirms Ottawa’s support of the Ontario’s big city mayors’ caucus draft motion, called the Solve the Crisis campaign, asks for more support from upper orders of government to respond to drug-related deaths and homeless encampments in their communities. 

It references reports showing a staggering 3,432 drug-related deaths in Ontario in 2023, while stating that there are an estimated 234,000 Ontarians experiencing homelessness as well as over 1,400 homeless encampments in the province. 

The motion asks for financial support, calls on residents to join the city in appealing to the governments, and resolves to send a copy of the motion to several senior government figures, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford. 

It also requests that the Government of Ontario appoint a single point of contact in these issues, make homelessness a health priority, and strike a task force.

The motion comes at a time when Ottawa Public Health has reported a steady rise in opioid overdose deaths, and the city’s 2023 Progress Report for the 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan reported that 988 people were actively chronically homeless in Ottawa. as of Dec. 31.

Also at the meeting, Kanata South Councillor Allan Hubley introduced a motion to consider the implementation of a vulnerable social infrastructure bylaw, similar to the one recently adopted by the City of Vaughan. It was seconded by Mayor Sutcliffe.

The motion cited a 19 per cent increase in hate crimes targeting Muslim, Jewish, LGBTQ2S+ and other minority groups in Ottawa and said Ottawa’s mosques, churches, synagogues and related institutions provide onsite services to vulnerable or targeted members of the community.

The motion said it does not intend to prohibit peaceful gatherings, protests or demonstrations. Vaughan implemented its Protecting Vulnerable Social Infrastructure Byilaw on June 18 and defined vulnerable social infrastructure as religious institutions, schools, childcare centres, hospitals and congregate care facilities.

Staff will consider the feasibility of implementing a similar by-law, in addition to other approaches to address preventing harassment and hate speech, and report to council in Q1 of 2025.

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The federal government’s latest announcement about the addition of 14 properties to the Canada Public Land Bank brings the total up to 70 properties that the government has identified as being suitable to support housing.

The answer seems simple: the city needs housing, and the feds have properties in prime locations that aren’t being used. Why not turn the former offices into housing units?

But not all buildings are suitable for conversion, says Kevin Morris, chief financial officer at JBPA Developments Inc. JBPA has been at the forefront of the conversion conversation, having converted office buildings to residential at three properties: 169 Lisgar St., 170 Metcalfe St. and 341 MacLaren St.

The latest project underway with JBPA is 200 Elgin St., a building owned by District Realty. JBPA has been working to encourage the private sector to consider converting their unused or unleashed spaces into housing in addition to government properties.

And while the government’s disposal list is a step in the right direction, Morris said the buildings are not automatically suitable to be converted into housing. There are a variety of factors to determine whether or not a property can be successfully converted.

“Every conversion is unique, because every building is unique,” said Morris. “Only about a quarter of buildings that are identified as potential conversions actually do make it as actual conversions.”

So what are the ideal features a building should have for office-to-residential conversion?

Firstly, the layout of office buildings tends to differ from residential, Morris explained, which can become complicated when creating floor plans for residential units. For this reason, square buildings are not usually well-suited to hold apartments.”

“Apartment buildings are longer and more narrow. Some office buildings are really big, so then the apartments themselves would become really long and narrow,” he explained. “And this is somebody’s home. This wouldn’t feel very homey; it feels like you’re living in a long, narrow hallway.”

The location of the building within the city is also a factor, he explained. When considering a building for conversion, he said he looks at the community around the property, including access to transit, grocery stores, medical facilities, and other amenities nearby.  

“Like anybody’s home, you want to have a community around it,” said Morris. “Converting the office building is one part of it, but having all those other things that need to be part of a community for people also needs to be addressed at the same time.”

Many other features of a building that JBPA looks at are “building-specific”, like whether or not the elevator is positioned in the middle of the building, if there is space for parking, and where amenity spaces like fitness rooms and other facilities could be built. 

“Any building is a complicated machine. There’s lots of things that go into building any complicated machine, and you only build that machine in one direction, so it is complicated no matter which way you go about it,” said Morris. 

So is it actually more efficient to convert, rather than starting from scratch?

“Depends on the client,” Morris says. Converting a property saves concrete, which is a carbon-intensive process, so reusing the existing material can be more environmentally- and fiscally-responsible.

Efficiency also comes into play with red tape and the processing times for properties on a municipal level, he added. While it might be attractive to purchase a property with the aim of converting, itve could take around five years from acquiring the building until it can actually be converted, he explained. 

In some cases, “you may as well buy new” after investing in a vacant building. So whenever possible, if the City can work to speed up the approval process, he said it will encourage people to invest in a conversion project. 

Although JBPA has been trying to get private property owners involved, there are some possible candidates for conversions in the Land Bank, said Morris, that are located in prime areas downtown and rectangular in shape. Some, however, just aren’t well-located enough to quality — “Again, the building is only one part. The community around it is also important.

“I think the intention is there, but I think without some meaningful ways to accelerate it, it may not happen as fast as people want,” he explained.

Ultimately, he said he hopes property owners will at least consider evaluating whether their buildings are suitable for conversion before starting anew. And with extra support and boosts to the current timelines for approvals, he said the city’s conversions can be heading in the right direction.

“When people are motivated to come up with a solution, things will happen. I think what I’ve seen these last few months of people in Ottawa, the federal government, and the City is people want to have a meaningful solution,” Morris said. “So we may stumble a little bit, but with some creativity and wanting to do the right thing, I think a solution will be found.”

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Coun. Clarke Kelly, who represents the rural West Carleton-March ward, opposed the policy when it was first brought forward to council last year, calling instead for it be sent back to staff for reevaluation.

He said the city should’ve come up with a more “equitable” approach to limits based on residences and households and focus on education. Kelly moved a motion at the time asking for reconsideration by staff and calling tag and bag limits “complicated, inequitable, and punitive for segments of the population.”

His motion was seconded by Orléans East-Cumberland Coun. Matt Luloff but it was denied with only four councillors in favour.

After some quarrelling between councillors and a variety of motions and amendments put forth, council settled on a three-item limit on all households that receive curbside collection. The move is meant to help extend the life of the Trail Road Waste Facility until 2049.

But it has already prompted concerns that some may evade the limit by dumping their trash elsewhere.

City staff say they’re responding to concerns around enforcement by hiring “trash cops” who will be responsible for monitoring household waste. They’ve also indicated they will be increasing enforcement of illegal dumping.

Nichole Hoover-Bienasz, program manager for long-term planning at the City of Ottawa, said council approved a capital budget of up to $1.7 million in funding to support the roll-out of the three-item limit policy in the 2024 budget.

“This includes the cost to provide residents with additional green, blue and black recycling bins, fleet for new staff, promotion and education, and temporary staffing support for education, outreach and illegal dumping enforcement,” Hoover-Bienasz told Compass News.

But according to Ecology Ottawa, a local environmentalist group, these changes are just “an example of council preserving the status quo.”

William van Geest, the group’s interim executive director, said council has been “lacking courage and, frankly, responsiveness to the crises that face us” with these latest changes, calling the three-item limit “really disappointing.”

The original recommendations from staff suggested a pay-as-you-throw model, which has been successful in other municipalities in Ontario, and was based on extensive research and public consultation, he said.

That originally recommended “partial pay-as-you-throw” program would give residents an annual allotment of 55 garbage items with the option of purchasing additional tags.

“The approach we take affects how residents deal with their own trash, so public consultation is very important. There was a good plan the other municipalities have already implemented,” said van Geest. “And the council just went to town on it.”

“The effect this will have will be very minimal and council missed a great opportunity to do better with some really reasonable and light, gentle action on the waste front and we passed it up,” added van Geest.

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