{"id":5124,"date":"2021-09-22T10:43:11","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T14:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/ctv-news-city-hall-considers-cracking-down-problem-landlords\/"},"modified":"2021-09-22T10:43:11","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T14:43:11","slug":"ctv-news-city-hall-considers-cracking-down-problem-landlords","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/news\/ctv-news-city-hall-considers-cracking-down-problem-landlords\/","title":{"rendered":"CTV News: City Hall considers cracking down on problem landlords"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<em><span style=\"font-size:16px;\">Posted September 22, 2021<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/webapps.9c9media.com\/vidi-player\/1.9.24\/share\/iframe.html?currentId=2286064&amp;config=ctvnews\/share.json&amp;kruxId=&amp;rsid=bellmedianewsprod,bellmediaglobalprod&amp;siteName=CTVNews&amp;cid=%5B%7B%22contentId%22%3A%222286064%22%2C%22ad%22%3A%7B%22adsite%22%3A%22ctv.ctvnews%22%2C%22adzone%22%3A%22embed%22%7D%7D%5D\" width=\"560\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">City staff were told by a council committee to go back to the drawing board to ensure all rental units in London are maintained in a safe condition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">Members of London ACORN held a rally outside City Hall prior to a meeting of the Community and Protective Services (CAPS) Committee on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">The tenants\u2019 advocacy group renewed its call for City Hall to take steps to hold landlords accountable for unsafe living conditions in rental units across the city.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">\u201cWe (and council) have a lot of common ideas, so we are looking to build a foundation of something to start with. We all agree something needs to be done,\u201d explained Jo-Dee Phoenix of London ACORN.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">Last week, civic administration released a report recommending, \u201cno further action is required regarding the licensing of rental units within apartment or townhouse structures.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">Currently, the municipality only licenses houses, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">A license requires initial building code and fire code inspections plus payment of an annual renewal fee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">The staff report determined annual inspections of all 47,000 rental units in townhouses and apartment buildings would require hiring 37 new municipal law enforcement officers and a similar number of fire prevention officers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">But London ACORN rejects the premise of the report.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">\u201cACORN has never asked for an inspection of every single rental unit in the City of London,\u201d Phoenix told the CAPS Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">Rather than have the city inspect all of the rental units in townhouses and apartment buildings each year, London ACORN recommends City Hall follow the lead of Toronto\u2019s RentSafeTO program.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">In Toronto, landlords pay $11.24 per rental unit as a registration fee, and $1,917 for an annual audit to ensure that building maintenance standards are met.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">Failing to meet those standards could result in financial penalties.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">CAPS Committee Chair Jesse Helmer suggests the program could help identify problematic landlords and buildings for investigation and enforcement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">\u201cRegister the buildings, and then do audits,\u201d Helmer explains. \u201cTake a look at the common areas (in the building). Are there problems? If so, come back and look a little deeper.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">The committee unanimously recommended directing staff to prepare a new report considering a \u2018RentSafeLondon\u2019 program.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">Helmer says landlords that let buildings decay contribute to the housing crisis by taking once rentable units out of the market.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">\u201cThe RentSafeTO program in Toronto is not perfect, but it\u2019s going in the right direction in terms of being proactive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">Council will consider the committee\u2019s recommendation October 5.<\/span><br \/>\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">****<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:16px;\">Article by&nbsp;Daryl Newcombe for <a href=\"https:\/\/london.ctvnews.ca\/city-hall-considers-cracking-down-on-problem-landlords-1.5595514\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">CTV News<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span class=\"es-button-border\" style=\"border-style:solid;border-color:#9AAEA6;background:#C51100;border-width:0px;display:inline-block;border-radius:0px;width:auto;\"><a class=\"es-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.acorncanada.org\/newsletter\" style=\"mso-style-priority:100 !important;text-decoration:none !important;-webkit-text-size-adjust:none;-ms-text-size-adjust:none;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;font-family:arial, 'helvetica neue', helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:18px;color:#FFFFFF;border-style:solid;border-color:#C51100;border-width:10px 20px 10px 20px;display:inline-block;background:#C51100;border-radius:0px;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;line-height:22px;width:auto;text-align:center;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sign up for ACORN&#8217;s newsletter<\/a> <\/span><br \/>\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","front_page_slider":[],"campaigns":[],"featured_news":[],"class_list":["post-5124","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/5124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"front_page_slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/front_page_slider?post=5124"},{"taxonomy":"campaigns","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campaigns?post=5124"},{"taxonomy":"featured_news","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_news?post=5124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}