Tenants and advocates rallied outside city hall on Tuesday ahead of a report set to come to Ottawa’s planning and housing committee that won’t be recommending a renoviction bylaw. The term “renoviction” is used when landlords evict tenants with the intent of doing renovations to charge a higher rent.
A city staff report has recommended against adopting a renoviction bylaw In Ottawa, arguing that it would be costly and that provincial legislation could soon supercede any bylaw. The 19-page report acknowledges that it was “highly probable” that unlawful evictions were happening under the pretext of renovation and that there was harm caused when tenants were forced to leave their homes.
Le personnel municipal de la Ville d’Ottawa rejette, du moins pour le moment, la mise en œuvre d’une politique sur les rénovictions.
Les fonctionnaires de la Ville d’Ottawa affirment qu’ils ne recommandent pas pour l’instant un règlement antirénoviction en raison de son coût et d’une loi provinciale qui couvre le même domaine. Ils veulent aussi attendre de voir comment les autres municipalités s’en sortent à ce chapitre.
Ottawa city staff say they aren’t recommending an anti-renoviction bylaw just yet because of its cost, provincial law covering some of the same ground and a desire to wait and see how other cities fare. Edward Roué, chairman of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)’s Central Ottawa chapter, said the issue is pressing as people are suffering daily from renovictions. “I don’t see why renters in Ottawa should have any less rights than renters in any of those other cities,” he said.
Waterloo Region ACORN, a tenants right advocacy group, is calling on Kitchener and local municipalities to put in renoviction bylaws to help renters stay in their homes. “The best, most effective, cost effective, safest, most dignified way to preserve tenant rights and to preserve people’s homes is to keep them in their existing affordable homes,” said Jacquie Wells, the interim chair of Waterloo Region Acorn.
