{"id":632,"date":"2019-11-15T21:00:49","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T21:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/?p=632"},"modified":"2019-12-01T05:29:19","modified_gmt":"2019-12-01T05:29:19","slug":"proposed-regulations-not-enough-housing-advocates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/2019\/11\/15\/proposed-regulations-not-enough-housing-advocates\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed regulations not enough: housing advocates"},"content":{"rendered":"[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.0.5″ custom_padding=”0px||0px|||” locked=”off”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.0.6″ custom_padding=”||3px|||”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.0.6″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/YOW-logo.png” url=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ height=”270px” custom_padding=”||0px|||”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_social_media_follow use_icon_font_size=”on” icon_font_size=”13px” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ text_orientation=”right” min_height=”18px” custom_margin=”-85px||-10px|||” custom_padding=”0px||1px|||”][et_pb_social_media_follow_network social_network=”instagram” url=”https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/yowpublication\/” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ background_color=”#e8377c” background_enable_color=”on” follow_button=”off” url_new_window=”on”]instagram[\/et_pb_social_media_follow_network][et_pb_social_media_follow_network social_network=”twitter” url=”https:\/\/twitter.com\/Yowpublication” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ background_color=”#5ce1e6″ background_enable_color=”on” follow_button=”off” url_new_window=”on”]twitter[\/et_pb_social_media_follow_network][et_pb_social_media_follow_network social_network=”youtube” url=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCj4rs1qjq7orfknOqBrnaKw” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ background_color=”#ffb859″ background_enable_color=”on” follow_button=”off” url_new_window=”on”]youtube[\/et_pb_social_media_follow_network][\/et_pb_social_media_follow][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.22″ background_color=”#f7f7f7″ custom_padding=”||1px|||” locked=”off”][et_pb_fullwidth_menu fullwidth_menu=”off” dropdown_menu_bg_color=”#f2f2f2″ dropdown_menu_line_color=”#5ce1e6″ dropdown_menu_text_color=”#000000″ logo=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Copy-of-About-YOW-2.png” show_search_icon=”on” search_icon_color=”#5ce1e6″ cart_icon_font_size=”20px” search_icon_font_size=”20px” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ menu_font=”News Cycle|600|||||||” menu_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.81)” menu_font_size=”18px” menu_letter_spacing=”1px” background_color=”#f2f2f2″ min_height=”48px” custom_margin=”-1px|||||” custom_padding=”0px||0px|||” border_width_top=”1px” border_width_right=”0px” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_width_left=”0px” menu_line_height__hover_enabled=”off|desktop”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_menu][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_padding=”4px||0px|||”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.0.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” width=”73.1%” custom_padding=”||0px|||”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_post_title categories=”off” comments=”off” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ title_font=”News Cycle|700|||||||” title_font_size=”40px” meta_font=”Source Sans Pro||||||||” meta_line_height=”1.7em” width=”100%” min_height=”261px” custom_margin=”||0px|||” custom_padding=”||0px|0px||”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.0.6″ text_font_size=”13px” text_line_height=”1.2em” header_font=”||||||||” min_height=”38px” custom_margin=”3px||1px|||” custom_padding=”6px||1px|||”]

Andrew S. Haydon Hall was packed on Nov. 15, 2019, for a special committee meeting on short-term and long-term rentals in Ottawa. Photo by Kate Schellenberg.<\/span><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”0px|||||”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ min_height=”254px” custom_margin=”-2px||1px|||” custom_padding=”0px||1px|||”]

While the main attraction at City Hall Friday may have been a debate over tougher regulations for short-term Airbnb-style rentals, dozens of housing advocates showed up at the same council committee meeting with something different in mind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amidst the dozens of members of the public sporting Airbnb pins on their lapels were an equal number of people clad in red T-shirts from the anti-poverty group ACORN. The organization claims 30,000 members in the Ottawa area, all identifying as low or middle-income individuals.<\/p>\n

They came to City Hall to attend a meeting of council\u2019s Community and Protective Services Committee. ACORN is arguing for formal licensing of all landlords.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cToronto has formal licensing and it\u2019s bad in Ottawa,\u201d said Steven Wittenberg, a member of ACORN. \u201cPeople are living with mould and bugs. People are being treated unfairly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Steven-Wittenberg.jpg” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.0.6″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.0.6″ text_font_size=”13px” text_line_height=”1.2em” width=”100%” min_height=”21px” custom_margin=”-26px||4px|||”]

Steven Wittenberg, a member of ACORN at City Hall on Nov. 15, 2019. Photo by Kate Schellenberg.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.0.6″ custom_margin=”-23px|||||” custom_padding=”0px||1px|||”]

The formal licensing mentioned by Wittenberg is called RentSafeTO. It is Toronto\u2019s Apartment Building Standards, a by-law enforcement program. All landlords must register with the program and every building is inspected by the city and given grades based on the building\u2019s liveability. Those with the lowest grades get visited regularly by by-law officers until their grade improves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ACORN is calling for a similar program in Ottawa. During the special meeting, Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury<\/a> proposed a motion to look at adopting a pilot program similar to RentSafeTO.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a pilot, regulation should be enacted in the areas of Sandy Hill and Vanier. The trial should be evaluated after two years,\u201d Fleury said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If the program proved to be successful, the city could consider expanding it to other neighbourhoods. The proposed program would require landlords to pay to register their buildings with the city.<\/p>\n

Not everyone is on board with this proposed program. \u201c[Landord registration] has been proven not to work in other communities,\u201d said Victor Menasce, vice president of Ottawa Real Estate Investors Organization.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you institute new rules, and additional costs, [landlords] have no choice but to pass them on to tenants,\u201d said Menasce. He said Fleury\u2019s stance was \u201cmisguided\u201d because landlord registration ultimately reduces affordability for tenants.<\/span><\/p>\n

The decision regarding the program had not been made at the time of publication.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHousing, it\u2019s gotta change. It has to change. The way things are going, it’s unfair.\u201d said Wittenberg.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.0.6″ custom_margin=”-39px|auto||auto||”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.0.6″][et_pb_blog fullwidth=”off” posts_number=”3″ include_categories=”3,14″ show_categories=”off” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ header_font=”News Cycle|700|||||||” body_font=”Source Sans Pro||||||||” custom_margin=”41px|||||”][\/et_pb_blog][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Housing advocates think new city regulations won’t be enough to change poor living conditions for low-income renters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"\n

Andrew S. Haydon Hall was packed on Nov. 15, 2019, for a special committee meeting on short-term and long-term rentals in Ottawa. Photo by Kate Schellenberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the main attraction at City Hall Friday may have been a debate over tougher regulations for short-term Airbnb-style rentals, dozens of housing advocates showed up at the same council committee meeting with something different in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amidst the dozens of members of the public sporting Airbnb pins on their lapels were an equal number of people clad in red T-shirts from the anti-poverty group ACORN. The organization claims 30,000 members in the Ottawa area, all identifying as low or middle-income individuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They came to City Hall to attend a meeting of council\u2019s Community and Protective Services Committee. ACORN is arguing for formal licensing of all landlords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToronto has formal licensing and it\u2019s bad in Ottawa,\u201d said Steven Wittenberg, a member of ACORN. \u201cPeople are living with mould and bugs. People are being treated unfairly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"

Steven Wittenberg, a member of ACORN at City Hall on Nov. 15, 2019. Photo by Kate Schellenberg.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The formal licensing mentioned by Wittenberg is called RentSafeTO. It is Toronto\u2019s Apartment Building Standards, a by-law enforcement program. All landlords must register with the program and every building is inspected by the city and given grades based on the building\u2019s liveability. Those with the lowest grades get visited regularly by by-law officers until their grade improves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACORN is calling for a similar program in Ottawa. During the special meeting, Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury<\/a> proposed a motion to look at adopting a pilot program similar to RentSafeTO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a pilot, regulation should be enacted in the areas of Sandy Hill and Vanier. The trial should be evaluated after two years,\u201d Fleury said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the program proved to be successful, the city could consider expanding it to other neighbourhoods. The proposed program would require landlords to pay to register their buildings with the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not everyone is on board with this proposed program. \u201c[Landord registration] has been proven not to work in other communities,\u201d said Victor Menasce, vice president of Ottawa Real Estate Investors Organization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you institute new rules, and additional costs, [landlords] have no choice but to pass them on to tenants,\u201d said Menasce. He said Fleury\u2019s stance was \u201cmisguided\u201d because landlord registration ultimately reduces affordability for tenants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision regarding the program had not been made at the time of publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHousing, it\u2019s gotta change. It has to change. The way things are going, it's unfair.\u201d said Wittenberg.<\/p>\n","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3],"tags":[27,28],"class_list":["post-632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first","category-news","tag-city-council","tag-housing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1531,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions\/1531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/yow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}