Renoviction bylaw not recommended in City of Kitchener report

The City of Kitchener is weighing its options after a staff report advised against a renoviction bylaw. CTV’s Jeff Pickel has more.

The City of Kitchener continues to examine how to make housing more affordable, but city staff are suggesting a “renoviction” bylaw may not be the right answer.

Renoviction is a portmanteau of the words ‘renovation’ and ‘eviction’ and refers to the practice of landlords evicting tenants to complete renovations. Sometimes, the work is a ruse to forcibly remove existing tenants so landlords can raise the rent.

City staff will be presenting a report to the city’s Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee on June 16, exploring ways to deal with renovictions within the city. One of the options being considered is a renoviction bylaw to protect tenants from unjustified actions taken by landlords acting in bad faith. Similar bylaws have already been implemented in Hamilton, Toronto and London.

Hamilton’s Renovation Licence and Relocation Bylaw requires landlords who issue an N-13 eviction notice to submit an application with the city for the renovation licence prior to starting any work. If a tenant is required to leave their unit during the renovation and plans to return to that same unit once the work is complete, the landlord must provide temporary arrangements that are comparable to the tenant’s current unit or give the tenant compensation in lieu.

While in the process of preparing the report, staff put together an anonymous eviction survey which they conducted in February 2024. Of the 150 responses collect, 30 per cent said they had been evicted because their home was being renovated.

The report, however, urged councillors to consider an option that did not include passing a bylaw.

“The City of Kitchener does not have the mandate, funding, staff, expertise or other resources to provide these complementary components of an effective evictions prevention and tenant support system,” it said. “Further, city staff are not trained social workers or tenant advocates, do not have specialized legal expertise in this area, and cannot advise tenants on their decisions pertaining to the evictions process.”

The report also noted that renoviction bylaws were relatively new and more time was needed to know if they were effective.

It said the Region of Waterloo, or even the province, would be better suited to address housing and homelessness.

Instead, the report recommended working with other levels of government and organizations with expertise in tenant support and evictions prevention.

“The goal of these actions is to support tenants and landlords, and prevent unlawful evictions of all types, rather than focussing on evictions due to renovations,” the report stated.

City staff suggested what tenants really needed was a greater understanding of their rights and better access to information about community resources.

“Results of the evictions survey and interviews highlighted that, while most tenants are at least somewhat informed of the rules that apply through the [Residential Tenancies Act] and [Landlord Tenant Board], many still feel disempowered, bullied and feel that landlords use coercive techniques to evict tenants. This concern is not limited to evictions for renovation, but for other evictions as well,” the report said.

Staff also listed several options to help get information out to tenants, including clear online resources, in-person information events such as a tenant’s fair, direct outreach (such as postcards to tenants), community newsletters and neighbourhood associations.

“Allocation of staff resources to support the development of educational materials for tenants and landlords will help to support tenants experiencing evictions of all types, rather than being limited to tenants experiencing evictions due to renovations.”

Council will consider the recommendation at a committee meeting on June 16.

- With reporting by Jeff Pickel