Renoviction discussion deferred as Guelph Council opts for more info

The Guelph City Council Committee of the Whole was to discuss options to address the issue of renovictions at its meeting on September 17th but chose instead to defer until October 8th.

The reasoning involves a report, slated to be presented that day, that contains staff suggestions on how the municipality can deal with the housing affordability crisis on the local level.

Council voted unanimously to hold off detailed discussion so the staff recommendations could be included.

Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie spoke to The Mike Farwell Show and said there remains widespread support among council for some sort of anti-renoviction by-law.

“We need to make sure we have the processes in place to help people who are being renovicted from their places and they don’t know their rights and they are being taken advantage of. In those scenarios, we feel as a municipality, we need to step into that space.”

Guthrie recognizes there is only so much local government can do. The Landlord and Tenant Board and the Residential Tenancies Act is a provincial entity and housing is under provincial purview.

But he says council feels compelled to do whatever it can, within its lane.

“During the request for a renovations permit, they will have to make sure they satisfy to the city that they are taking care of the tenant if the tenant needs to be moved out of the unit they are in.” said Guthrie when asked what a potential municipal by-law would look like.

Guthrie says he remains confident a bylaw will be put in place but he’s not sure it will come at the October meeting.