The Spec: Hamilton’s anti-‘renoviction’ bylaw takes effect in January. Will it protect tenants evicted under the wire?

Hamilton tenant Amanda Dick’s home of nearly eight years hangs in the balance as she awaits a hearing before Ontario’s rental-dispute tribunal.

Dick and dozens of others in the six-storey apartment building on Emerald Street South have received notices from their landlord to clear out for renovations.

They’re contesting the notices, called N13s, before the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) in January, hoping they can stay put and not struggle to find another affordable rental in Hamilton.
That’s why Dick, who relies on a disability pension, hasn’t accepted her landlord’s “cash-for-keys” offer to leave and try her luck on the open market, where one-bedrooms hover around $1,700 a month.

“I don’t have an option. I’m on ODSP,” said the 42-year-old, who pays about $850 a month including utilities for the apartment she shares with her cat, Tessa.

She’d have less stress if her landlord’s N13s hadn’t come under the wire of a new bylaw meant to crack down on bad-faith evictions for renovations, known as “renovictions,” while ensuring above-board projects can continue.

Hamilton’s trail-blazing program, which takes effect Jan. 1, will require landlords to apply for renovation licences from the city, pay a fee of $715, submit documentation and make arrangements for other temporary accommodations for tenants who exercise their right to return to their homes without spikes in rent once work wraps up.

In Ontario, landlords are able to evict tenants for extensive renovations that require building permits, but tenant advocates have condemned underhanded pressure tactics as a driver of displacement motivated by profit.

Under provincial legislation, landlords are no longer restricted by annually capped increases once units are vacated, leaving them free to charge new tenants whatever the market can bear.
The obligation to provide alternative accommodations during renovations is what resonates the most for Dick as she faces the spectre of trying to line up a place for the seven months (shy of the typical one-year lease) the landlord says her work is expected to take.

“That would be an absolute game changer for myself and the other people in my building,” she said.

This is why the time it has taken the city to ready the bylaw has been “disappointing,” said Dick, who credits the advocacy efforts of Hamilton ACORN for pushing for the anti-renoviction measures and supporting her and fellow tenants in their fight against eviction.
Under the renovation licence and relocation bylaw, landlords must produce such documents as building permits, reports from engineers vouching that units must be empty for work to be done, copies of N13s and confirmation that a tenants rights and entitlement package has been provided.

If tenants want to return to the unit, the landlord must arrange for “temporary comparable accommodation” or a rental differential payment based on average market rent for the life of the renovation.

Scofflaws face penalties ranging from $500 to $10,000 for people, and $500 to $50,000 for corporations.
With the bylaw set to take effect, the city has launched a campaign to inform landlords, tenants and the general public of its ins and outs.

“The objective is to decrease bad-faith evictions. We still want to ensure that legitimate renovations do take place, because those are also important,” Monica Ciriello, director of licensing and bylaw enforcement, told The Spectator.

In the run-up to council’s approval of the bylaw about a year ago, local landlords expressed their misgivings.

In a letter, the Hamilton and District Apartment Association argued the city was “both unappreciative of and hostile to the private sector who provide homes for many of their residents” while proving “not able” to respond to “many residents that desperately need housing” amid a “growing homelessness issue.”

“It is the few bad apples that are providing a bad name to all housing providers and it is those bad actors that should be the ones punished, not all landlords in Hamilton, the majority of them who are great housing providers,” the letter continued.

The association didn’t respond immediately to The Spectator’s request for comment Friday. Dick’s landlord on Emerald South didn’t respond either.
Ciriello said the city hasn’t been served notice of any legal challenge and noted staff were “very meticulous” in crafting the bylaw.

“What we brought forward, in the city’s opinion, is a bylaw that balances the local issues of bad-faith evictions while still recognizing overall responsibility of the province to govern landlord-tenant matters.”

The program carries an annual net-levy impact of about $815,000, and calls for eight full-time staff and three vehicles.

In a report, ACORN Canada examined renovictions in Ontario, finding 337 N13s were issued in Hamilton between 2017 and 2023, which put it second only to Toronto (950 of the notices) in a list of 10 cities.

Such tallies, ACORN points out, represent a “gross underestimate of the scale of the renoviction crisis,” noting most bids to displace tenants don’t make it to the LTB amid pressure tactics to vacate units and avert hearings.

The activity has been so intense in Hamilton in past years, organizers anticipated what turned out to be a relative lull this past summer, noted Gabrielle Maynard McGuire, a local tenant defence organizer with ACORN.
“A lot of the buildings that were prime candidates have already been targeted, and there’s been an enormous turnover in tenants,” she said.

On Emerald South, Dick says others in her building, including older adults and others with disabilities, are “just making themselves sick with worry,” as they await the LTB hearing.

Much of the work the landlord is planning is “cosmetic,” she says, figuring the goal is to re-rent the units at higher rates once the longer-term residents clear out.

“Of course, they don’t want us to return.”

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Article by Teviah Moro for The Spec