Hamilton looks to crack down on apartment building neglect, renovictions with new bylaws

CBC Hamilton is investigating the living conditions that tenants face and what responsibility the city has to uphold property standards. This is the final part of a three-part series. Part 1 can be found here and Part 2 here.

As Hamilton's housing crisis deepens and some tenants living in dire conditions can't afford to move, the city is proposing sweeping measures to crackdown on crumbling apartment buildings. 

Staff are recommending the creation of a safe apartment buildings bylaw, which could result in regular inspections and more stringent enforcement of the city's property standards for nearly 900 buildings — the number of rental apartment buildings in Hamilton with more than two storeys.

Councillors will consider this bylaw, as well as another intended to stop renovictions, at the emergency and community services committee meeting on Thursday. If it's passed there, council will have the final say on Friday. 

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Tenant advocacy group ACORN has been pushing for this type of program since 2017, said member Christine Neale, who rents a unit in downtown Hamilton. 

"The fact we now have a bylaw to work with is really heartening," she said. 

The city's goal is to preserve what's left of Hamilton's affordable rental housing by ensuring landlords maintain buildings rather than let them go into despair to justify evicting tenants for extensive renovations (known as "renovictions), the report says.

Over the last decade, Hamilton has lost 16,000 affordable units as landlords increase rent between tenants and less purpose-built rentals are on the market, said general manager Angie Burden at a committee meeting earlier this week. Meanwhile, the number of people experiencing homelessness in Hamilton has increased nearly 70 per cent since 2020, according to the city. 

The safe apartment buildings bylaw would require landlords to register their building with the city and have plans in place for pest and waste management, cleaning, repairs, electrical maintenance and vital service disruption, including power outages and water shut offs. 

They'd be subject to regular city inspections and be scored on how well the building is maintained.

Landlords would also need to keep track of all tenant maintenance requests and what actions were taken to address them, the staff report said. If a request involves a security issue or shutdown of vital service such as running water or power, the landlord must respond within 24 hours. 

Karl Andrus of the Hamilton Community Benefits Network said the bylaw, with some tweaks, is what tenants need to prevent a months-long water shut off or bed bug and cockroach infestations like those reported by CBC Hamilton earlier this month. 

"This is good work and it's going to make a major difference," said Andrus, the network's community benefits manager.