Ward 6 councillor speaks up on RHLR

Listening on Rental Housing Licensing

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.

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

TheRecord - Waterloo plans to be first to introduce rental...

TheRecord - Waterloo plans to be first to introduce rental...

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Northdale committee set

WaterlooChronicle.ca: News: Story: Northdale committee set

UW Daily Bulletin re: arrest in sex assault.

The Waterloo Regional Police Service announced yesterday morning that they've made an arrest in connection with the sexual assault earlier this week on Hazel Street, a stone's throw from the Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University campuses. "On December 1," said a police statement, "a 25 year old Kitchener man was arrested in relation to an investigation into a sexual assault on Hazel Street in Waterloo on November 30, 2010. He has been charged with sexual assault with a weapon and uttering threats. The accused is being held for a bail hearing. The investigators would like to thank the public and the media for their assistance in this investigation." As of yesterday, the name of the accused hadn't been made public.

Alarming warning posted by WLU - sad, but necessary.

Headlines (Notices)

WLU
Safety notice for Laurier community

Communications, Public Affairs & Marketing

Nov 30/10

Wilfrid Laurier University encourages all members of the Laurier community to exercise additional caution following the sexual assault of a university student near the Waterloo campus late Monday night.

Waterloo Regional Police are investigating an incident in which a 19-year-old female was approached by a male on Hazel Street at approximately midnight. Police say she was threatened with a knife and forced into a backyard where she was sexually assaulted.

Police are appealing to the public for assistance in identifying the male suspect, whose image was later captured by security cameras in a nearby coffee shop. Click here to view photos on the Waterloo Regional Police website.

The suspect is described as being in his late 20s or early 30s, about 5 foot 8 inches tall, approximately 200 pounds, with short black hair, tanned skin, facial stubble and a slight accent. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 519-650-8500 ext. 8672 or Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-8477.

Laurier’s Special Constable Service has stepped up patrols of the campus and surrounding streets and will remain highly visible. The Special Constable Service also encourages all members of the Laurier community to walk with a buddy and stay in well-lit and well-travelled areas, and to use Laurier’s free Foot Patrol service, which provides escorted walks and van-rides home by male-female teams, from 6:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. daily. To contact Foot Patrol, call 519-886-FOOT (3668).