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CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Renoviction bylaw not recommended in City of Kitchener report
The City of Kitchener is weighing its options after a staff report advised against a renoviction bylaw. CTV's Jeff Pickel has more. The City of Kitchener continues to examine how to make housing more affordable, but city staff are suggesting a 'renoviction' bylaw may not be the right answer. Renoviction is a portmanteau of the words 'renovation' and 'eviction' and refers to the practice of landlords evicting tenants to complete renovations. Sometimes, the work is a ruse to forcibly remove existing tenants so landlords can raise the rent. City staff will be presenting a report to the city's Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee on June 16, exploring ways to deal with renovictions within the city. One of the options being considered is a renoviction bylaw to protect tenants from unjustified actions taken by landlords acting in bad faith. Similar bylaws have already been implemented in Hamilton, Toronto and London. Hamilton's Renovation Licence and Relocation Bylaw requires landlords who issue an N-13 eviction notice to submit an application with the city for the renovation licence prior to starting any work. If a tenant is required to leave their unit during the renovation and plans to return to that same unit once the work is complete, the landlord must provide temporary arrangements that are comparable to the tenant's current unit or give the tenant compensation in lieu. While in the process of preparing the report, staff put together an anonymous eviction survey which they conducted in February 2024. Of the 150 responses collect, 30 per cent said they had been evicted because their home was being renovated. The report, however, urged councillors to consider an option that did not include passing a bylaw. 'The City of Kitchener does not have the mandate, funding, staff, expertise or other resources to provide these complementary components of an effective evictions prevention and tenant support system,' it said. 'Further, city staff are not trained social workers or tenant advocates, do not have specialized legal expertise in this area, and cannot advise tenants on their decisions pertaining to the evictions process.' The report also noted that renoviction bylaws were relatively new and more time was needed to know if they were effective. It said the Region of Waterloo, or even the province, would be better suited to address housing and homelessness. Instead, the report recommended working with other levels of government and organizations with expertise in tenant support and evictions prevention. 'The goal of these actions is to support tenants and landlords, and prevent unlawful evictions of all types, rather than focussing on evictions due to renovations,' the report stated. City staff suggested what tenants really needed was a greater understanding of their rights and better access to information about community resources. 'Results of the evictions survey and interviews highlighted that, while most tenants are at least somewhat informed of the rules that apply through the [Residential Tenancies Act] and [Landlord Tenant Board], many still feel disempowered, bullied and feel that landlords use coercive techniques to evict tenants. This concern is not limited to evictions for renovation, but for other evictions as well,' the report said. Staff also listed several options to help get information out to tenants, including clear online resources, in-person information events such as a tenant's fair, direct outreach (such as postcards to tenants), community newsletters and neighbourhood associations. 'Allocation of staff resources to support the development of educational materials for tenants and landlords will help to support tenants experiencing evictions of all types, rather than being limited to tenants experiencing evictions due to renovations.' Council will consider the recommendation at a committee meeting on June 16. - With reporting by Jeff Pickel
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Albuquerque City Council votes down ‘RENT' ordinance
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Albuquerque city councilors voted against a proposed set of regulations aimed at addressing poor housing conditions and unfair rental practices. The Renter's Empowerment and Neighborhood Transparent ordinance would protect tenants from hidden fees, housing instability, and unresponsive landlords. Rio Rancho City Council to decide fate of nuisance home Landlords showed up in numbers to Wednesday night's zoning meetings saying the ordinance unfairly punishes landlords. 'The real person who's being hurt by this is only the homeowner and the housing provider that is actually trying to do something good for our community and give somebody somewhere to live. The false narrative that all housing owners are villains is so hurtful to our community,' said Josh Price. Renters in support said the ordinance is a game changer. 'As somebody who speaks to renters every day, I know that there are horrors in the living conditions in the way that we live and we are extremely far behind in housing law. In a lot the things that are in this bill are already things that are law in a lot of other places,' said Adrianna Wake. The bill died on a 3-2 vote. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Rents unlikely to come down for several years after reforms, Coalition told before agreeing overhaul
It will be years before any increased housing supply brought about by rental market reforms lowers the cost of renting, the Coalition was told before agreeing to overhaul the sector. In the meantime, average rents may increase in the short term, according to a research paper published on Tuesday as the Government unveiled reforms of the rental sector. Cabinet agreed to extend Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) nationwide, as well as increasing tenant protections from so-called 'no-fault evictions'. It also agreed that rents in new tenancies after next February can be reset every six years, with newly built apartments to be carved out from the RPZ legislation and allowed to impose higher rent increases in line with inflation. READ MORE Minister for Housing James Browne said the 200,000 tenants currently renting in existing RPZs 'will see no change' to their rental conditions. 'Existing tenants will still rent under the current RPZ, which is 2 per cent or inflation, whichever is lower,' a spokesperson for the Minister said. The Government hopes that the removal of 'severe' aspects of the RPZ regime, which was due to expire at the end of the year, will encourage investment. A report drawn up by the Housing Agency for Mr Browne said that reforming the RPZs along the lines of the Government decision should act as a stimulus to investment and help keep smaller landlords in the sector. However, it also warned that 'standardised average rents would increase in the short term' and outlined 'it will take at least three to four years for this investment to result in more homes being built'. In the longer term, any increased supply of rental properties should have a dampening effect on rising rents, it said. Mr Browne said he could not put a time frame on when he expected rents would begin to fall, but that this could only start to happen if the Irish market was made more attractive for international investors. 'I expect rents to fall over time. What that particular length of time is, I wouldn't be able to predict,' he said. There has been a collapse in institutional investment in Irish apartment development in recent years, prompting renewed concern that housing output will dramatically underperform targets. The Housing Agency review recommended that the existing system be modified, finding the current rent cap of 2 per cent and the inability to reset market rents in between tenancies was 'severe'. It recommended reforms and added protections for tenants. The steps sparked clashes in the Dáil, with Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald telling Taoiseach Micheál Martin the Government was 'screwing renters' and 'doing it brazenly', while Mr Martin insisted the new plans for tenants are a 'balanced set of proposals'. Ms McDonald also claimed that the resetting of rents every six years to full market rate 'is essentially the death knell of rent pressure zones' and that students 'will be amongst the first hit by your actions'. Mr Martin insisted, however, that existing tenants will not face rent increases beyond 2 per cent and that RPZs will be extended across the State. He said the fundamental objective was policy certainty for renters and increased supply. Social Democrats housing spokesman Rory Hearne said the plan would lead to 'skyrocketing rents', with more families and children being made homeless. Labour Party housing spokesman Conor Sheehan said the measures were 'piecemeal' and predicted institutional investors would continue to lobby Government until all protections are lifted from the private rented market. He said the new proposals would lock in unaffordable rent increases. Mr Browne said the Coalition would press ahead with further reforms designed to encourage homebuilding in the weeks ahead. He said currently, a lot of investors 'won't even look at this country to invest', believing they could make a loss on construction projects here.
