Rental housing licensing bylaw won’t solve problems, council hears

Welland will look to educate landlords and tenants when it comes to such things as fire and building safety for rental housing.

City staff were directed by city councillors Tuesday to bring back a report outlining a public education strategy. The recommendation came after councillors spent two hours talking about a rental housing licensing report.

That report came about from a request made last year to look at coming up with a bylaw for rental properties. The 2017 motion said there were concerns and complaints about too many rental properties concentrated in certain areas or neighbourhoods in the city, poor upkeep of property, parking issues, building safety issues, vulnerable tenants, and noise and nuisance issues.

City staff including fire Chief Brian Kennedy; supervisor of traffic, parking and bylaws Ali Khan; chief building official Jack Tosta; senior bylaw enforcement officer James Cronshaw; and manager of development approvals Grant Munday all spoke about rental housing licensing.

Khan said there are pros and cons to implementing a licensing system for landlords in Welland.

There would be benefits for both tenants, landlords and even neighbourhoods including increased knowledge of bylaws that apply to rental properties, identification of substandard properties, a fair playing field and guidance on how to resolve issues for landlords, neighbourhood stability and enhanced care of properties.

Drawbacks include potentially higher rents for tenants as landlords work to recoup extra expenses, low-income tenants possibly forced from units due to an increase, an impact in affordable housing and the possibility the bylaw could be considered discriminatory if it targeted specific areas.

Each city official who spoke said if a rental housing licensing bylaw were to be passed, their departments would require more staff to carry out administrative work and inspections.

The potential cost to the city would be $735,300 to implement it and landlords would be required to pay $1,000 every two years for a licence.

Erik Nickel, general manager of infrastructure services, said staff were recommending the report be received for information only. He said if a bylaw were passed it wouldn’t be able to regulate many of the concerns raised by councillors, such a parking spots or the location of parking at rental properties.

“It won’t regulate parties, won’t regulate noise and it won’t have the ability to control the actions and conduct of tenants,” said Nickel.

Ward 4 Coun. Pat Chiocchio said the issue of rental properties really comes down to the city enforcing existing bylaws.

Chiocchio’s fellow ward councillor, Tony Di Marco, wondered if the city could just focus on a potential bylaw in areas where there’s student housing.

Munday told him that under Ontario’s Human Rights Commission that would be a violation of rights if it were only student housing targeted.

He said students and landlords could argue that it was discriminatory.

“We’d be people zoning,” said Munday.

Ward 2 Coun. Leo Van Vliet asked staff if residents and tenants reported issues involving rental properties to the city whether a rental housing licensing bylaw would be needed.

Kennedy, Khan, Tosta, Munday and Cronshaw all said no.

Van Vliet said the city should focus its attention on education instead.

“Educating people is the easier and cheapest way to get things done quickly,” he said.

Ward 2 Coun. David McLeod made an amendment to the report asking that staff come back with a public education strategy around the issue.

That amendment and receiving the report for information both passed.