The London Free Press: As advocates watch from gallery, councillors back study to limit renovictions

Several politicians spoke passionately of the efforts of their colleagues as well as advocates as they approved a study of options to prevent bad-faith evictions.

Several politicians spoke passionately of the efforts of their colleagues as well as advocates as they approved a study of options to prevent bad-faith evictions.

City councillors voted unanimously Tuesday to support a motion from Mayor Josh Morgan, deputy mayor Shawn Lewis, and Coun. Peter Cuddy to ask staff to study options to prevent or limit “dubious” evictions for renovations or because a landlord plans to have relatives move in.

“Many times, we do things around this horseshoe that don’t have a quantifiable effect immediately, but what we’re doing today does,” Cuddy said. “This is not a perfect motion, but it’s pretty close.”

The original motion was in response to events at the apartment buildings at 1270 and 1280 Webster St., in Cuddy’s ward, where tenants last year were issued eviction notices requiring them to vacate their units for the purpose of renovation.

Tenants have the right to return to their units at the original rent, but critics charge the evictions can be used to kick out long-term tenants with no other living arrangements and terminate their leases to raise rent prices for future tenants, a practice known as “renovictions.”

Another type of eviction notice is issued to allow a landlord’s caregivers or relatives to move in to a unit, but critics similarly claim it is simply a method to vacate a unit to advertise it at market price.

Much of the advocacy on the issue came from the London chapter of ACORN, a tenants’ advocacy group that has been helping Webster Street residents. Several members of the group were present in chambers to witness debate on the motion.

ACORN advocates “were very instrumental in bringing some of these problems that we face in our city, and around the country, to our attention,” said Coun. Sam Trosow. “I think the fact that we’ve already said that we’re looking at this carefully is going to have a good effect in terms of making people think twice before they abuse the system.”

In a news release before the meeting, ACORN’s provincial group lauded city council for its commitment to examining the issue.

“As tenants, we are excited by the proactive approach city hall is taking to prevent homelessness and protect our affordable homes,” London ACORN leader Sharon Hodgson said. “Highlighting landlord accountability ensures renters’ stability and a higher quality of life. We’re hoping to see London ultimately follow the footsteps of Hamilton with a strong renoviction bylaw to prevent what happened at Webster from ever happening again.”

The group also made recommendations for concrete regulations the city could take, inspired by a recent bylaw passed by the city of Hamilton. The recommendations include requiring landlords to:

• Apply for a licence within seven days of issuing a tenant a notice they are being evicted for a renovation
• Provide tenants with a tenant’s rights and entitlements package
• Provide tenants wishing to exercise their right to return to their unit, at the same rent, with temporary accommodation or a rental top-up for the duration of the renovations

The rules could be in place by the end of the year if staff come back with recommendations in the fall, some councillors said.

“We don’t want to delay. Let’s get moving on this because we don’t want to delay to make it perfect,” Lewis said. “We can always go back and look at some other pieces later, but let’s get the thing we all agree on moving.”

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Article by Jack Moulton for The London Free Press