City of Ottawa seeks to buy or lease rental accommodation

Q: I own and operate a small apartment building in Sandy Hill. Because of the location, many of my tenants are usually students attending uOttawa. But right now, because of COVID -19 shutting down in-person classes in March, most of my apartments are vacant, and I am getting hardly any inquiries to rent them. I heard from a colleague that the City of Ottawa is seeking offers to sell or rent apartment buildings or motels for it to use as affordable housing. What is the deal with that? How can I find out more?

Your concern about vacancies is a common one in Sandy Hill and in the areas serving Carleton University and the community colleges. You could potentially address your vacancies by advertising and accepting lower rents than you are used to, which would encourage non-students to move from other areas to rent from you.

However, you are also right that the City of Ottawa issued a Request for Offers (RFO), and is seeking offers to sell or rent apartment buildings, motels/ hotels and other similar use residential, commercial or institutional buildings to the city, or to rent floors or sections of such buildings.

The city is looking to buy or rent accommodation to help meet the immediate need due to physical distancing guidelines as a result of the COVID -19 pandemic, and as well, the need for longer-term housing solutions for individuals, couples or families who are ready to move into transitional housing or permanent accommodations.

A lease to the city would need to be for at least one year and could include renewal options.

A building in any condition would be considered, and the building could be vacant or partly occupied.

For an offer to be considered as part of the RFO, the property must:

• Contain at least 10 private units (minimum 300 square feet), best each with its own bathroom;

• Be available for purchase or for lease for a minimum one-year lease term; and

• Be located within the City of Ottawa’s urban boundaries. Copies of the RFO are available: • online at www.merx.com;

• by calling the MERX Distribution Unit 1-800-964-6379; or

• emailing the city at housing logement@ottawa.ca.

The RFO number is 2020971000O01. (The last three characters are the letter O and the numbers 01.)

Once a landlord or hotel or motel operator reviews the RFO, questions can be directed to housinglogement@ottawa.ca. Submissions are to be sent to that same email address.

The deadline for submissions is 4 p.m. on Friday, June 12. What is due by that date is a five-page description of the property on the city’s form, which is found in the RFO.

In lease arrangements, the dayto-day property management services for the occupants may be conducted by the city or its agents (such as service providers), except for facility systems and building repairs/maintenance, which the building owner would provide.

Besides being an opportunity for the city to acquire more affordable housing for its own operations or for operation by non-profit housing providers, this could be an opportunity for rental property owners to exit from their investment.