Here's what London, Ont.'s city council will focus its attention on, heading into the spring

It'll be a busy spring for London's city council as politicians discuss potential bylaws focusing on bringing more revenue into the city, and the protection of long-term housing.

Some of the items up for discussion are: controlling short-term rental markets, homelessness prevention, a street vendor pilot project, an outdoor patio capacity limit extension, and an updated corporate asset management plan.

Here's what they will focus on:

London has approximately 650 "active rentals," which are rentals that had at least one reserved or available day in the previous month, according to city numbers. 90 per cent of those are through Airbnb. 

The "profitability of short-term rentals has caused both commercial and individual landlords to leave the long-term rental market, thus resulting in a depleted supply of long-term housing," a city report states. In order to tackle this, they've developed the following recommendations:

On March 7, the province announced an additional $25 Million in a new Homeless Prevention Program (HPP) in order to provide housing services and supports to those who experiencing homelessness. 

This is in place to help municipalities spend more time working with clients to help them find housing and other supports.

London needs to increase capacity and the availability of services across many sectors to meet the housing stability needs of individuals who are in crisis. 

Funding from the province will provide housing assistance and support services to prevent chronic homelessness and support recipients to remain stably housed over time. It will also allow the city flexibility to fund capital projects and provide longer-term rental assistance as needed. 

The city is pushing for a new pilot project for street vendors on Dundas Place. The vendors would have to pay a fee. The city hopes this would:

The program would have an annual fee of $100 or quarterly fee of $25. The city says business owners on the street are very supportive of this project. The pilot would not include food vendors, who are covered under a different set of rules. 

Ward 13 Coun. John Fyfe-Millar and Ward 2 Coun. Shawn Lewis are proposing an extension of current capacity limits to allow more flexibility for restaurants. 

As is stands, the rules state that "no outdoor patio shall accommodate more than 50 per cent of the licensed capacity of the restaurant with which the patio is associated, or 50 persons, whichever is the greater."

Fyfe-Millar and Lewis argue that since maximum capacities are already regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario based on the premises size, additional regulations by the city are unnecessary.