Hearing delays jeopardizing affordable housing
Shortage of Landlord and Tenant Board adjudicators creating a backlog of cases
Niagara Region’s health and social services committee endorsed a letter from Niagara Regional Housing (NRH) chair Gary Zalepa warning the Ontario ombudsman and province that delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board are putting the agency and its staff in a precarious position.
Zalepa, who also serves as mayor of Niagara-on-the-Lake, blamed the delays on a shortage of Landlord and Tenant Board adjudicators, who are appointed by the province and available to hear cases. He said immediate action is necessary.
“Failure to do so will result in social housing providers’ inability to provide suitable housing to those truly in need,” Zalepa said.
Zalepa said the wait for hearings on applications to terminate tenancies for nonpayment of rent often takes three or four months compared to 2019, when the Landlord and Tenant Board processed and scheduled hearings within four to five weeks. The letter also advocates for private landlords as well.
“The financial impact on social housing landlords, with the burden of carrying tenants who are not paying rent, is creating a significant impact on our day-to-day operations,” Zalepa said. “We can only imagine how this is adversely impacting private landlords who have large mortgages, as well as operating expenses.”
With the regional housing being in the business of providing affordable housing, Zalepa said the delays are affecting its ability to meet its mandate.
“On a day-to-day basis, we are finding that tenants are learning of the delays, which is allowing them to remain in rental units without paying for months on
‘‘ Failure to do so will result in social housing providers’ inability to provide suitable housing to those truly in need.
GARY ZALEPA NIAGARA REGIONAL HOUSING CHAIR
end,” Zalepa said.
Zalepa said the NRH has been advised that Landlord and Tenant Board staffing issues, particularly in the Hamilton office, are due to attrition, with no new employees hired when adjudicators leave. The board’s Hamilton office is responsible for Niagara.
Cameron Banach, the NRH’s director of housing services and CEO, told the committee Tuesday the delays harm landlords and tenants.
“It’s a detriment to the landlord because they use the rent as operating dollars to pay their bills,” Banach said. “There’s also a detriment to the tenant. If they go to the Landlord and Tenant Board because the tenant owes a month or two in rent, they get a repayment agreement to keep their tenancy.
“If it takes us four, six, eight months to get a hearing, by the time they get to that point, they won’t be able to pay it back, so they won’t be able to keep their tenancy.”
Banach said the hearing delays can also jeopardize safety because if something of a criminal nature occurs in one of the communities, the staff can’t deal with it promptly.
Fort Erie Coun. Tom Insinna said he knows of a similar situation at a complex in Fort Erie.
“It was about the safety of the other tenants, and it had a huge impact on them with police being involved and everything else,” Insinna said.
Adrienne Jugley, the Region’s commissioner of social services, said hearing delays affect the Region’s affordable housing strategy because they impact landlords.
“It’s important to keep the ones we have,” Jugley said.
Jugley said she believes landlords sometimes worry about taking new low-income tenants.
“They think that they are going to be faced with long hearings if the tenancy fails, so there’s a lot of reasons to encourage the government to do this,” Jugley said. “In my opinion, it’s a low investment with a high return to get more staff in there and get the hearings moving more quickly.
“I think it supports tenancies and encourages more landlords or potential landlords to get into the business of renting.”