NDP to ban adults-only apartment buildings
Families with children will have more housing options in the new year if proposed changes to Alberta’s human rights legislation are passed.
The NDP introduced a bill Wednesday to prevent age discrimination, putting an end to adults-only apartment buildings as of Jan. 1. But an exception gives condo owners a 15-year grace period to implement the new rules.
“While it certainly makes sense to do this, it does raise a number of complex issues,” Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley told a news conference after introducing the Alberta Human Rights Amendment Act, 2017. “We recognize that many Albertans have made significant investments on the basis of condo bylaws that were in place at the time of purchase.”
The legislation includes exemptions, including seniors-only housing. This means buildings can cater exclusively to those over 55. (Seniors communities can choose any age older than 55 as the minimum cut-off, however.)
Hugh Willis, spokesman for the Canadian Condominium Institute in northern Alberta, said the 15-year transition is a “commonsense compromise” for owners who will have decide whether to switch to a seniors-only building or open up to families with children.
The phase-in period will allow people in their 40s to move into that senior age bracket, he said. “From our perspective, we would like as lengthy a time as possible.”
Overwhelmingly, condominium owners who gave feedback about the legislation wanted to maintain age restrictions, he added.
Bill 23 stems from a Court of Queen’s Bench court order on Jan. 6, 2017, that gave the government one year to add age as a prohibited reason for discrimination into specific sections of the human rights code. It followed a ruling in March 2016, when Ruth Maria Adria successfully challenged Alberta’s Human Rights Act on the basis that seniors were discriminated against when renting or selling.
The amendments proposed Wednesday relate to two sections in the code focusing on tenancy, as well as goods, services, accommodation and facilities.
While condo owners have more than a decade to phase in the rules, renters may notice changes much sooner. If the legislation takes effect Jan. 1, landlords will not be allowed to discriminate based on age.
“In a rental building, you don’t have the same sort of vested investment,” Ganley said, adding individuals may have purchased condos on the basis that age restrictions would stay in place. “That’s why we had allowed that longer period with respect to condos.”
Chelsey Jersak, co-founder of the Child-Friendly Housing Coalition of Alberta, said she’s pleased with the bill, but the grandfathering period for condo owners is too long.
“We think that unnecessarily affects an entire generation of young families,” she said.
“We don’t want there to be ambiguity where people have to make a bunch of challenges to the (Alberta) Human Rights Commission,” she added.
Other exemptions in the bill include “ameliorative” programs — for example, a building set aside to help members of a vulnerable population. Ganley said activities providing benefits to minors and seniors continue are also exempt, such as reduced bus fares and movie ticket deals.