Affordable Housing

The Ontario government is proposing a new Provincial Planning Statement, a document that municipalities must follow. It no longer requires cities to set minimum targets for provision of housing affordable for low- and moderate-income households and instead refers only to addressing the full range of housing options including “housing affordability needs.” It no longer requires … Read more

Ontario’s latest housing bill, the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, allows tenants to install their own air conditioners—but no onus on landlords to provide air conditioning. The new bill also appears to strengthen the ability of tenants to return to a unit vacated for major renovations. If the tenant wishes to return, the landlord must … Read more

A new city plan for housing and homelessness investments, unveiled yesterday (April 19), calls for annual programs of action. Much of the first year is focused on getting a new Housing Secretariat up and running to coordinate action across city departments to speed developments. The only numerical goal for the first year is to get … Read more

ACORN Hamilton members will be outside City Hall today (April 20) at noon to talk about tenant experiences with renovictions, and to hear ACORN’s response to the staff recommendation described in the previous item. ACORN has been fighting since 2018 for a bylaw like New Westminster’s and held a rally in 2020 to back their … Read more

A report that goes to the city’s Emergency and Community Services Committee at 1:30 this afternoon (April 20) argues that Ontario cities do not have the legal jurisdiction to pass anti-renoviction bylaws. The city has been considering one used in New Westminster B.C. to intervene when landlords seek to evict them to do major renovations. … Read more