11th Hour Push for a Renoviction Bylaw in Ottawa 

After three years Ottawa’s renoviction bylaw is coming to council. This was an action packed week for members ahead of the Housing and Planning Committee vote, as over 50 ACORN members showed up at City Hall Tuesday to demand from the city a STRONG renoviction bylaw. What makes the difference between a weak bylaw and a strong bylaw? A strong bylaw must have a qualified persons report that verifies that the unit must be vacant for the renovations to be completed and temporary accommodations, rent gap payments and moving cost coverage for the tenant if they must vacate. 

The rally was great and the crowd was determined to win. Thank you to ACORN members Dave Longchamps and Nelda Giroux for speaking on experiencing a renoviction personally. We also had guest speakers like Councillor Ariel Troster (who has worked closely with Ottawa ACORN to champion our campaign at council since the beginning), Tom Ledger from Horizon Ottawa, Angela Keller-Herzog from CAFES giving amazing speeches on why we need  strong anti-displacement protections.. We made sure city hall heard they need to stop renovictions in Ottawa!

Thanks to our amazing leaders Gabrielle Frechette and David Longchamps for MC’ing the action. 

Today, Wednesday July 8th, ACORN members were back at City Hall, this time inside council chambers at the Housing and Planning Committee. Over 20 members came out to support other ACORN members and allies’ delegations. 

Special thanks to our ACORN delegates Sharon Katz,  Roxanne Donovan, Nelda Giroux, Debbie Staples, Rosalinde Klempan, Edward Roue, Marja Ferguson, Amy Zhou.

Big thanks to our allies that delegated in support of a renoviction bylaw: Katie Burkholder Harris of the Ottawa Alliance to End Homelessnesss, Robin Browne from 613-819 Black Hub, Aileen Leo from the Ottawa Mission,  Sarah Sproule of CLSO, Erica Shadow CAFES Ottawa, Karen Andrews ACTO and Kate Mousson from the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic.

Unfortunately the landlord lobby came out strong against protecting tenants from renovictions and delegated for rejecting the renoviction bylaw in full: CIANA CANI, Tami Eades, OREB, John Dickie, Jeremy Newman, Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization and Katherine Wauthier, Landlord Self Help Centre. shame!

After many hours of debate, Housing and Planning voted yes for the renoviction bylaw with a motion to direct staff to evaluate the bylaw’s success in Q4 2027 and if Ottawa needs to address any missing gaps.

While ACORN members are happy this is moving forward, they desperately want a speedy review to make Ottawa’s bylaw as strong as Hamilton, Toronto, Waterloo, Mississauga and others. As Councillor Troster said Ottawa is not the first to pass a bylaw, we’re the 6th or 7th, and without passing this important renoviction bylaw we’d be the only major city in Ontario without any anti displacement measures for tenants. 

But the fight is not over – there is still the full council meeting on Wed July 15th at 9:30AM where ACORN will continue to push for a STRONG renoviction bylaw. Passing anything pro-tenant at Ottawa City Council is no easy feat – we have a very suburban, rural council that listens more to asset owners vs. tenants. But we will not stop fighting. 

With that said, we are excited that a last minute motion to investigate a similar bylaw for demovictions was passed!! Stay tuned for more information coming soon or reach out to [email protected] to get involved.