Legalize rooming houses across city, report says
Advocates say creating Toronto-wide rules will make buildings safer
Toronto’s inconsistent rules about rooming houses — banned in some areas and unregulated in others — have led to tenants living in dangerous conditions, says a report from city staff that recommends legalizing and licensing them city-wide.
That proposal would allow a more consistent system for oversight and tenant protection, says the report from Toronto’s chief planner and executive directors of housing and licensing.
“The pathway to achieving safe, liveable and affordable multi-tenant houses starts with legalization,” they wrote.
The proposal was unanimously endorsed by the city’s planning and housing committee on Tuesday.
Rooming houses — also called multi-tenant or lodging houses — are an especially affordable form of housing, with tenants renting by the room.
They are one of the few private market options for those on government support or low in
comes, the city noted.
But they are currently only allowed to operate in the former cities of Toronto, Etobicoke and York — and only the first two are subject to licensing, with requirements like fire safety plans and regular inspections.
Rooming houses aren’t currently allowed in North York, Scarborough and East York, but people operate them anyway, according to the staff report.
Often that means houses are run without appropriate permits or inspections. Building operators can’t upgrade buildings if they fail to meet requirements like the fire code because the city can’t issue building per
mits for rooming houses where they aren’t permitted. Housing advocate Sean Meagher said while many rooming houses in the city are well-run, others are much the opposite.
Those tenants are put in the position of having to protect the very landlords who might be jeopardizing their safety, he said — or risk losing their housing altogether.
“If they turn their landlord in, they’re going to be homeless in a city where you can’t get housing at that price, and where their Ontario Works cheque or Ontario Disability Support Program cheque or minimum wage job … doesn’t enable them to go and find another apartment,” Meagher said.
In the last decade in Toronto, 15 people have died in rooming house fires: All but one were in unlicensed homes. Seven were in parts of the city where rooming houses aren’t allowed.
Those deaths have informed the way the city looked at the task ahead, said chief planner Gregg Lintern.
While rooming house advocates who spoke to the Star applauded the recommendations, several questioned a proposed six-room maximum for Toronto’s residential zoning areas.
“I think it’s a mistake to tie the number of rooms to the zoning, or even to typical houses in the neighbourhood. What’s relevant is the number of rooms in the house itself,” said Joy Connelly, who contributed to a Maytree Foundation report attached to the new recommendations.
In other zones of the city, city staff are proposing maximums of 12 and 25 rooms per house.
The proposal still needs to go through a consultation process, expected to wrap mid-next year, followed by a council decision on a final set of recommendations and an implementation plan, Lintern said.
The report also recommends increased licensing requirements, with required plans around things like waste and pest management. Staff are proposing that rooming house operators be required to provide the city with floor plans, to help with inspections and investigative efforts.
Homes with10 or more rooms would be required to undertake electrical inspections by a licensed electrical contractor, and staff have proposed a modernization of the rooming house licensing commission — a two-member panel that makes decisions about operators’ licences.
The city report acknowledges that some rooming house operators could incur significant costs to bring their buildings up to snuff, and notes that Toronto Building is exploring “alternative options” to help them reach compliance while reducing costs.
“What’s important here is, all over particularly Scarborough and North York, there are people living in unsafe conditions,” said Coun. Gord Perks. “From time to time, they die in fires — and by other causes — and the city is finally doing something about it.”