Friends,
We have been working for a generation to advance meaningful protections for Toronto residents that depend on rental housing.
I am pleased to share that several measures aimed at protecting tenants and growing our rental housing supply were moved at today’s Planning and Housing Committee. In particular, I want to highlight a staff report on implementing a Renovictions Policy for the City of Toronto.
A renoviction is when a landlord illegitimately evicts a tenant from a rental unit by alleging that vacant possession of a rental unit is needed to undertake renovations or repairs. Renovictions can include refusing to allow a tenant who has exercised their right of first refusal to return post-renovation, illegally raising the rent on a returning tenant, or not undertaking major renovations after evicting renters.
There has been a growing trend of renovictions in Toronto. While investments in the repair and renewal of ageing rental housing is crucial to bringing buildings to a state of good repair, and ultimately improving the overall safety and livability for tenants, we must ensure that tenants are protected from bad-faith evictions.
In the absence of adequate policies from the provincial government to deter bad-faith evictions, Toronto and other cities are considering steps to address the growing trend of renovictions within their authorities. In January 2024, the City of Hamilton adopted a Renovation Licence and Tenant Relocation By-law that aims to prevent renovictions and mitigate harms to tenants by requiring a licence to renovate tenanted rental units. The Hamilton by-law includes several new requirements of landlords to achieve these objectives and establishes a dedicated investigation, compliance, and enforcement framework.
The Renovictions Policy Implementation staff report considered today provides an update on staff analysis of the Hamilton Renovation License and recommendations for developing a Toronto Renovictions By-Law.
I was proud to voice my support for advancing the development and implementation of a Renoviction by-law for Toronto, and together with my Planning and Housing Committee colleagues adopted the staff report with amendments, unanimously. My comments on this item can be viewed here.
Other key measures advanced today include updates on a new Community Housing Sector Modernization and Growth Strategy and Launching the Rental Housing Supply Program. These items will next be considered at the June 26-28 City Council.
Thank you to all of you who have advocated for and actively worked to build a more fair and affordable housing system in our city. The steps that we are taking could not happen without your efforts and involvement.
Sincerely,
Gord
Click the video above to hear my comments at Planning and Housing Committee.
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