Jagmeet Singh vows in London to require renoviction bylaws

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Do you want federal money for housing? Then stop “renovictions” in your community.

That’s the message NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh sent to municipalities from London on Thursday, saying a federal government under his leadership would attach federal funding for homes to municipalities passing bylaws that protect renters from “greedy landlords.”

“If a municipality receives federal money, we also want a guarantee that they are going to put in place laws that protect tenants, and one of those laws that we want to see is a bylaw at a municipal level to protect tenants from being renovicted,” he said.

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“Developers are making lots of money; investors are making lots of money, but families are worried about keeping a roof over their head,” Singh said. “That’s not how things should be.”

Under Ontario law, tenants can be evicted from their units to make way for major building repairs or upgrades but they’re entitled to first right of refusal to return once the work is done at the same rent they paid. Landlords in rent-controlled buildings, however, can apply for higher increases to offset those costs.

So-called “renovictions” occur when bad-faith owners, trying to cash in on hot housing markets, evict tenants for upgrades, hoping they’ll move on. Once their units are declared vacant, they often then jack up the rent to higher rates the market will bear.

Singh also said if his party were to form government, he wouldn’t shy away from using federal funding as a way to get provinces to pass stronger protections for tenants as well.

“If we do want to force municipalities to have laws that protect their tenants if they’re receiving federal money, similarly, we want provinces to do the same thing,” he said.

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“So, if we’re investing in provinces, as we should to build affordable homes, we want to see guarantees that they’re actually affordable. We want to see protections for tenants. We want to see ironclad guarantees that these are going to be homes that benefit people, not benefiting the rich developers.”

Singh made his remarks just outside 435 Nelson St., a building whose long-term tenants say they were being pressured into leaving their units after the property was bought by a new owner.

Jeff Blake, who has lived in the building for 35 years, said tenants initially were offered thousands of dollars to vacate their apartments in what is commonly known as a “cash-for-key” exchange.

But now that some of them have refused to leave, the building has fallen into a state of disrepair, with the new owners saying in an email reviewed by The Free Press they plan to demolish the property. Blake said residents were issued N13 eviction notices in May.

Singh described the state of the property as “troubling,” saying what the building’s residents are experiencing is too common place in Canada.

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“And with occupancy rates as low as they are, people have nowhere to go. This is a real fear that people feel,” Singh said.

“People are working harder than ever and falling further behind.”

London city council already is working on its own version of a renoviction bylaw.

Last week, politicians voted in favour of approving a draft bylaw that aims to protect tenants. Some of the proposed changes are:

• Landlords must get a $400 licence within seven days of the work.
• An affidavit is required from the person who gave the tenant the eviction notice.
• Approval from an engineer or architect that the repairs or renovations are so extensive, they require a vacancy.

Council also voted in favour of having staff look at requiring landlords to provide displaced tenants with another place to live or rent top-ups.

Ilse Grills, a member of the local chapter of tenants’ rights group ACORN, described Singh’s proposal as a “great step in the right direction,” saying other measures such as rent control laws for all properties are also needed in Canada.

“We are supportive of this proposal,” said Grills.

jjuha@postmedia.com

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