Town and Gown Ontario Conference and Rental Licensing

On May 17th and 18th I attended the Town and Gown Association of Ontario (TGAO) conference. It was a very interesting conference because you meet the by-law, police, community development, university affairs and students representatives from across the province, all who are involved with student housing and other town and gown related issues. The presentations are to be posted on the TGAO website.

One of the main topics was rental licensing. TGAO was formally established in 2006, and one of its first activities was to lobby the provincial government to enable municipalities exercise better control over student oriented housing. This lead to municipalities being able to license rental units.

London and Oshawa are the first two municipalities to implement rental licensing by-laws. They have taken different approaches. London has a city side by-law, a low fee based on self-reporting with a random inspection program, and a 5 bedroom limit. Oshawa has a higher fee, it applies only in a specific geographic area and is more like Waterloo's licensed lodging house program. Waterloo is in a good position to learn from what London and Oshawa have done, along with our experience with licensed lodging houses.

Waterloo's licensing by-law, which is expected to come to Council this June. A discussion paper was issued last year, which outlines the broad parameters being considered for the licensing by-law in Waterloo.

My considerations for a licensing by-law is that it must enable the licensing of any dwelling, without a minimum distance separation, as long as the number of rooms/occupants can be limited to the number of intended occupants/bedrooms of the dwelling. Other components include its application only to non-apartment buildings, and apply to dwellings renting three or more rooms/beds. Fees must be reasonable, and proof of proper insurance, fire inspections, adequate parking and appropriate garbage management etc must be provided. It is my hope that landlords will see this program as a benefit for them, as it will set a minimum standard to which everyone must adhere to.

Implementing the by-law should help to restore stability in the near university neighbourhoods. I look forward to this coming to Council in June, and will post the Council report here when it is released.