As an update on my last post, News in the New Year, I have spent the last week listening to the concerns of some of those involved in rental housing in our community.
On Monday, January 10, Council received a draft Rental Housing Licensing By-law and suspended the issuing of new lodging house licenses for several months in order to give the City and the community time to discuss and deliberate on how to improve the draft by-law and serve the entire community better.
Councillors and staff have heard hundreds of complaints from lodging house owners over the last week, which validates our decision last Monday to take the time necessary to listen, deliberate, and get this right. The rental market is an important part of our community, especially for those who do not currently have the means to own their own homes.
As someone who spent his first ten years in this community as a renter, I appreciate those landlords who were responsive and took their responsibilities to provide safe and adequate housing in exchange for a fair rent seriously. We need more of those in our community, not less.
I spent five months knocking on doors last year in all parts of Ward 6. I heard loud and clear from those residents who live in and near low-density rental housing that the status quo was not acceptable.
These voices have largely been absent over the last week. I do not forget that they are out there, and it is critical that all of those connected to rental housing participate in this consultative process, whether they own it, live in it, or live next to it.
I would like to encourage renters and their neighbours to join the landlords at an open house or at the Council meeting on April 11 when the next report from staff returns to Council.
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