2019

HERONGATE:
THE CASE
FOR
RENTSAFE
OTTAWA

HERONGATE CHAPTER OF

OTTAWA ACORN

404 McArthur Ave, Ottawa ON, K1K 1G8 acorncanada.org

613 746 5999 ext. 2
ottawa@acorncanada.org
 THE CITY HAS A RESPONSIBILITY TO
TENANTS TO RECOMMEND A
LANDLORD REGISTRY AND ADDRESS
GAPS IN PROPERTY STANDARDS

Ottawa ACORN's campaign for a landlord registry similar to Toronto's RentSafe

bylaw is based on over a decade’s worth of community organizing, as well as
the countless experiences of our low to moderate income members shared
through forums, phone calls and home visits. For the past 13 years, ACORN
organizers have gone door-to-door in low-income neighbourhoods, where the
state of people’s housing remains their number one concern. ACORN sees the
implementation of a landlord registry as an opportunity to address the gaps
in our current property standards system; to ensure that everyone’s right to
housing is protected and that every tenant has a healthy home.

ACORN strongly believes the City's "Rental Accommodations Review" did not
adequately capture the extent of the problem of bad housing in Ottawa, which
continues to be a widespread and urgent issue. The claim that substandard
housing is not widespread in Ottawa was based on 3-1-1 data,
which is not a representative database as it is entirely complaint based,
meaning that it does not capture issues that tenants do not call the City
about. On the contrary, during ACORN's recent repairs canvas in Herongate,
80% of the tenants ACORN spoke with had no idea 3-1-1 existed, or what it
could be used for, yet all of them reported significant problems in their
buildings or units.

In fact, Herongate is a classic case in point of the dire condition much of

Ottawa’s affordable rental housing is in at present. During ACORN’s repairs
canvas, organizers and volunteers spoke with 92 households, all of which had
extensive problems in their home or unit. Overwhelmingly, the most common
problem reported was pests; bedbugs, cockroaches, mice, and more. Tenants
reported that Timbercreek was generally unresponsive to these claims, and
any action taken with pest control had been ultimately ineffective. Other
common problems tenants in Herongate often experience include broken
doors, broken heating and cooling units, poor lighting, broken windows, and
stoves in need of repair; these are just several examples from an extensive list
of unacceptable conditions low income people live with everyday. In addition,
adverse housing conditions have affected the mental and physical well-being
of most Herongate tenants .

In 2016 and again in 2018, Timbercreek Asset Management was able to justify
demolishing sections of the neighbourhood's affordable family row houses
with the intent of replacing them with luxury rentals arguing they were beyond
repair. Many ACORN members, who were previously evicted
in this neighbourhood, argue that
this was demolition by neglect and
the City should have tools in place
to prevent rentals from purposefully
deteriorating. Owing to these mass
evictions, many Herongate tenants
live in fear of being evicted any
day. If landlord registry was in
place, repairs could not have been
neglected to the point of demolition
and tenant displacement.
ACORN members argue that a
landlord registry would promote
good landlords, and target the bad.
For instance, Toronto’s RentSafe
program did mass inspections of
the properties it decided to register
and assigned them a grade.
Buildings that did well were only
inspected every three years;
however, buildings that did poorly
were subject to a full audit, and
were inspected annually. Therefore,
bad buildings were targeted in
order to bring them up to standard.
This model allows the City to
efficiently identify the bad buildings
without letting any fall through the
cracks and focus its resources on
the worst offenders. In addition,
RentSafe publishes property
standards reports online and we'd
also like to see them posted in
common areas of buildings.
Therefore, good landlords receive
recognition for their practices and
tenants would know what they're
getting into before signing a lease.
RentSafe is also a revenue neutral
program so it wouldn't impact the
City's budget. Landlords pay a per
unit/annual registration fee as well
as additional inspection costs if
needed. In Toronto, the cost of
registration is significantly less than
1% of what landlords make in rent
each year; they pay $10.80/year
per unit that they rent out.
Critics and landlords have wrongly
argued that the cost of a landlord
registry would be downloaded onto
tenants. The Province caps the
amount of rent landlords can
charge each year and they always
charge the maximum. If a landlord
wanted to increase the rent by
more than what the Province
allows, they'd have to apply for an
Above the Guideline Rent Increase
(AGI) at the Landlord Tenant Board
(LTB)which would be highly unlikely
given the nominal cost of
registration. Even if landlords did go
to the LTB to apply for an AGI and it
was passed down to tenants, it
would be less than a dollar extra a
month in rent, which tenants would
gladly pay to have a guarantee of
safe and healthy housing. Tenants
are paying significantly more as a
consequence of mold, losing
furniture to pests, and paying for
cleaning or repairs themselves.
Presently, the onus of getting
repairs done or reporting issues in a
home is completely on the tenant.
In Herongate, for example,
countless residents stated that Timbercreek
had been unresponsive to their calls, and that
no action was taken to fix any of their issues.
Repairs can take years to occur, and even
when they are finally done, they are seldom
done well. A landlord registry would ensure
landlords actually follow through on repairs and
that problems are addressed through the
administration of proactive inspections by the
City.

Even if tenants are aware of their rights (which

many aren’t), putting the responsibility to report
problems on tenants alone creates a nearly
insurmountable power dynamic between the
tenant and the landlord. Many tenants are
afraid of their landlords and the threat of
eviction, don’t know how to call 3-1-1 or don't
know that it even exists, have a language
barrier, or have become unwilling to expend
their time and energy complaining when they
feel it will most likely fail to get their problems
fixed. Again, of the tenants of Herongate who
had property standards violations in their
homes, only 20% of them had ever heard of 3-
1-1. The result is unsurprising to ACORN
members and is confirmed by our 2017 State of
Repair report that surveyed 165 tenants. 22% of
respondents didn't know what 3-1-1 was and
close to 30% didn't think there was a point in
calling despite having issues.

Our complaint-based approach to property

standards is allowing our most vulnerable
tenants to fall through the cracks as it does not
begin to capture the extent of the problem.
Bringing RentSafe to Ottawa through a landlord
registry will have positive effects on people’s
physical and mental wellbeing, employment,
health care, and family services. If housing is a
right in our country then protecting tenants’
rights should be a priority for our City Council.

Below are work orders submitted to ACORN

detailing the issues Herongate tenants would
like to have their units inspected for by the City.
 Work Orders by
Herongate Tenants