The City of Kitchener is one step closer to potentially implementing a new bylaw that would protect tenants from being evicted by bad-faith renovations. On Tuesday, the city’s Finance and Corporate Services Committee discussed the possibility of creating a “renoviction” bylaw. “Renoviction” refers to the practice of landlords evicting tenants under the guise of completing necessary renovations and then renting the unit to new tenants at a higher rate in the future. Part of that discussion centred around a report from consultants Optimus SBR. The report was written after several public feedback sessions with tenants and landlords, as well as a survey that included the opinions of 643 respondents. While presenting the report to the committee, Optimus SBR representatives Beena Tharakan and Jesse Burns recommended a potential bylaw require a license for each unit where renovations would require a tenant to leave their home. The recommendations also included an application fee of $650 and the hiring of two to three staff members. Councillor Bil Ioannidis asked how those full-time positions would be funded. Burns said that question fell outside the report’s scope. “We did note that the $650 application fee is not a full cost recovery of the program and I think it represents somewhere around the 10 per cent range.” During their own presentation, staff for the City of Kitchener recommended an implementation date of Jan. 1, 2027. Councillor Debbie Chapman asked why it couldn’t be done in the fall. “Because the municipal election occurs in the fall of 2026, which would not have been known to Optimus SBR, there are some challenging resource constraints as it relates to implementing and ensuring that there is dedicated support to fulfill the two recruitment roles,” Amanda Fusco, the city’s director of legislated services, said. Ultimately, the committee voted five to three in favour of moving forward with the renoviction bylaw, but it would still need to be ratified at a regular council meeting. Earlier this year, Waterloo approved a renoviction bylaw against the recommendation of city staff. Rally outside city hall Ahead of the meeting, a group of concerned citizens held a rally outside Kitchener City Hall. Jacquie Wells, the chair of Waterloo Region’s chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), claimed some of the renovations that forced people from their homes were not really necessary. “They’re very cosmetic: paint, change the cupboards and nothing that would actually require the tenant to leave,” Wells said. “A lot of them are just done under false pretenses. The intent of the bylaw is not to prevent renovations from happening, it’s to get the tenants rights respected and enforced during that renovation period so essential renovations can still happen. Just now, the tenant will be protected by municipal law.”
