WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: A basic question

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: A basic question

Northdale Residents' Letter to Council re: rhlr

January 7, 2011

Re: Rental Housing Licensing Review:

Dear Mayor Halloran and Council Members

The residents of Northdale do not see any benefit to the Northdale area or to the city as a whole from a licensing policy that restricts the number of tenants in a residential rental property in the Northdale area to less than boarding houses or licenced houses or those owned by the universities or colleges are allowed to house.

We have repeatedly asked of our councilors (past and present) that Northdale be exempted from the incoming rental housing licensing bylaw and be considered a special policy area.

Driving those students who wish to live in detached housing out of the houses in Northdale will only lead to them seeking rental rooms farther out in other residential neighbourhoods.

Given that the homes in Northdale, even those on huge lots and those which have only ever been owner-occupied, do not attract non-rental interest, this bylaw is too late to help Northdale on any criteria.

At this point it will only serve to destroy property values for those seniors who cannot hang on to their homes waiting to see what the outcome of the Land Use Study might mean for them.

There is no correlation between the number of people in a house and the problems in Northdale.

A house of 3 can still cause disturbances with parties. A rental house is still a rental house and will never lead to neighbourhood stability or preservation.

With the Northdale area currently under a Land Use Study, the Northdale residents request that council consider that Northdale be exempt from this current document and that the future rental policy for Northdale be considered in the context of the official Northdale Land Use Study.

There is nowhere better for the fair rental policy for the currently unlicenced houses to be considered than in this context as it will be considered in depth on the Land Use Study committee by many community members, some from within and some from outside Northdale.

Please remove the Northdale area from the Rental Housing Licensing bylaw through a specific exemption, and include consideration of an appropriate and suitable rental policy for this area in the Northdale Land Use Studywhere it belongs.

Sincerely

Northdale Albert Residents' Coalition

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