Housing advocates rally as renoviction bylaw is discussed
Posted Mar 30, 2026 04:26:14 PM.
Last Updated Mar 31, 2026 11:02:15 AM.
Housing advocates will rally outside Kitchener’s City Hall on Monday, as council’s Finance and Corporate Services committee discusses a renoviction bylaw.
The Waterloo Region Chapter of ACORN organized the rally, in part to keep the pressure on Kitchener City Council to pass adequate protections for tenants from predatory landlord practices.
Ken Vogelpohl is the co-chair of the Waterloo Region Chapter. He told 570 NewsRadio that when it comes to a renoviction bylaw, the city, for the most part, is moving in the right direction.
“We are mostly happy. We’re happy staff is recommending that council does pass the bylaw as they’ve written it. There are a couple of important points that we think are still missing, but to be honest, we are pretty happy. We just would like to see a full bylaw instead of just a partially completed bylaw.”
Vogelpohl mentioned requirements to cover moving costs and rental gap payments, two provisions included in Toronto’s renoviction bylaw. He said current tenant rights laws don’t adequately cover the costs when a tenant is displaced for renovations.
He said the tenants shouldn’t be saddled with extra costs that aren’t their responsibility.
“We believe that since the landlord is the one that initiated the process and the landlord is the one that profits from the relationship, it should be the landlord that makes sure the tenant is made whole. And ‘made whole’ means making sure they are not paying out of pocket for this process that they did not start.”
Vogelpohl added that it’s rarely as simple as just finding another apartment.
“If they are subject to this process at all, it is because they were in a rent-controlled unit, which means they’ve probably gotten used to paying the rent that they currently pay and may not be able to find another apartment in the city or even in the region that matches what they are currently paying.”
Vogelpohl said that some of the opposition to a renoviction bylaw has come from councillors who believe it should be the province’s responsibility to protect tenants. He said, that’s a fair position.
“But, this provincial government has shown no desire to actually speed up things at the LTB (Landlord Tenants Board) to ensure that tenants actually are afforded the rights they are afforded even under current existing law, and has shown through Bill 60 last year that they are very interested in actually reducing those rights. So we think that it’s important the city steps in.”
