Hamilton
Background
On January 1, 2007, the Municipal Statute Law Amendment Act, 2006 (Bill 130) made significant changes to the Municipal Act, 2001, including changing Part IV (Licences) respecting business licensing and the regulations under this Part. These changes included eliminating the portion which had prohibited municipalities from licensing the business of renting residential units.
This gave municipalities the authority to adopt a licensing program to regulate rental properties, including, for example, requiring building, fire and electrical inspections to ensure the safety of the occupants. A municipality can narrow the application of a licensing bylaw from all residential rental accommodation in a number of ways, including by dwelling type, geographic area and/or occupancy by owner. However, the application of the licensing bylaw cannot be based on the type of person renting the unit (i.e. students).
In 2009, Council directed staff to investigate and report on three initiatives: a licensing program for residential rental housing under the Municipal Act, 2001; a zoning bylaw amendment under the Planning Act limiting the number of bedrooms in new housing and through renovations to existing houses; and a Community Improvement Plan under the Planning Act for encouraging the de-conversion of rental housing back to owner-occupied dwellings.
During the consultation period, RAHB hosted a question and answer session with Cllr. McHattie and City staff. The result of the meeting was that the association developed the position that rather than licensing rental housing, the City should use the tools it already possessed to correct issues surrounding this segment of the housing supply.
Following the recommendation from RAHB and other community groups, the City moved forward with a program of proactive enforcement of the Property Standards (No. 10-221) and Yard Maintenance (No. 10-118) bylaws. The program, ‘Project Compliance’, was approved by Council on March 31, 2010 for a period of 18 months. The program is funded from the parking reserve fund and was originally set to expire in December 2011, but based on staff recommendations, Council twice extended the program and it is now set to end December 2012.
Re-emergence of the Licensing Debate
This past summer, it became evident that the City was gearing up to re-open the licensing debate. RAHB staff met with City staff to discuss the timeline and the basics of what the City was considering. Based on information from that meeting, RAHB learned that the City’s Planning Committee would be considering a staff recommendation to proceed with licensing at their meeting on September 18.
In August, the Government Relations Committee (GRC) organized a meeting with members of the committee, the Regional Commercial Council (RCC), the RAHB Board of Directors as well as representatives from the Hamilton & District Apartment Association. From this conversation, RAHB staff developed an updated response to the City and this position was presented by RAHB President Cameron Nolan at the September 18 Planning Committee meeting. The full document can be found here (http://www.rahb.ca/GR/120918rentallicensingsubmission.pdf). Many RAHB members were in attendance at this meeting and several addressed the Committee as individual REALTORS® and property owners.
Current Status
Following the delegations, the Planning Committee amended and approved the staff recommendation. The Committee lengthened the timeframe for more consultation and asked staff to report back on a number of areas. The following is what was ultimately approved:
RAHB staff is currently working to set up meetings with individual councillors to discuss the issue prior to the release of the draft bylaw.
Updates will be provided through REALINFO, the Association’s social media sites, and REALTOR Link®. For more information please contact Megan Platts, Manager of Government & External Relations at meganp@rahb.ca or 905.529.8101 x295.