Getting zoned out in Hamilton
Technical violation could see woman ousted from home of 10 years
After a decade in her home, Shawna Chorney fears her days living at her east Hamilton apartment are numbered.
The 30-year-old is facing eviction from her one-bedroom unit at the end of the month after Hamilton bylaw found the Rosewood Road property, which has been operating as a six-plex for years, is zoned for four units.
Chorney’s landlord gave her an eviction notice for her mainfloor apartment in order to comply with the zoning violation as she is paying the least rent at $634 a month.
Chorney’s situation highlights some of the issues plaguing the city amid Hamilton’s ongoing affordable housing crisis.
“I’m looking at rent prices, and I look at how much I make, and I’m like ‘I’m going to be house poor,’ ” the personal support worker said.
Chorney’s landlord Ryan Kennedy said the situation is “un- comfortable” for everyone. He said he doesn’t want to kick out his tenant, but he has to follow the rules for the property he purchased as a six-plex almost five years ago, which would cost him thousands of dollars to rezone on top of already rising property taxes.
“Common sense isn’t prevailing,” he said. “There’s a housing crisis in Hamilton.” On Monday, Hamilton ACORN — a local group advocating for tenant rights — organized a gathering at the city’s licensing and bylaw services office in support of the Hamilton woman.
Chair Mike Wood called on the city to stop “displacing” tenants over zoning violations and asked for the violation to be grandfathered in.
After a demonstration outside the office, the group moved inside and presented its third “demand letter” to the city, asking for a meeting with director of licensing and bylaw Ken Leendertse to discuss Chorney’s situation.
Manager of licensing and bylaw services Kim Coombs and Lee Rynar, supervisor of operations and enforcement, came out to meet ACORN members and told them they must enforce bylaws set out by council.
“We’re not in the business to displace people. We’re in the business to make sure their living conditions are safe,” said Coombs.
“If it’s illegal, and it’s come to our attention, we have to investigate.”
The city’s licensing and bylaw department received a complaint about “illegal units” at the Rosewood property in October 2017, manager of service delivery Kelly Barnett said by email. After issuing an order because of a zoning violation, the property owner was told there are three ways to comply: by bringing the property back to its permitted use, proceeding with a conversion permit or rezoning the property, she noted.
With the Nov. 30 date on her eviction notice looming, Chorney said she plans to go to the Landlord and Tenant Board to buy herself more time to find a new home. She said she’d like to stay in the east end as that’s where her home care clients are located. Earlier this year, a consultant’s report put together by now-councillor-elect Brad Clark on behalf of the Hamilton and District Apartment Association on licensing rental housing revealed that an “unwillingness or inability to pay fees required to meet zoning and code compliance” puts a projected 30 per cent or 7,258 of such tenants in jeopardy of displacement. That aligns with 2012 numbers from the city indicating up to 30 per cent of rental units in converted Hamilton homes are “illegal” under zoning bylaws that govern how many units are acceptable in a given building.
This could cause a “tsunami of homelessness,” said Renee Wetselaar, executive director of St. Matthew’s House, a local charity that helps Hamiltonians in need.
“Our system can’t even handle one let alone 100 new people into the homeless system,” she said. Ward 4 Coun. Sam Merulla said the responsibility can’t fall only on the city when it comes to addressing Hamilton’s affordable housing issues.
“What we need is the federal and provincial government to come to the plate,” he said.