By Pam Wright
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Chatham-Kent is calling on the province to protect rental housing units for families across Ontario.
Following a motion by West Kent. Coun. Melissa Harrigan earlier this month, council agreed to lobby government to create a province-wide strategy to protect the loss of multi-bedroom housing.
According to Harrigan, advocacy is needed.
“Families need rental homes that actually meet their needs, and protecting multi-bedroom units is an important part of protecting our housing supply,” Harrigan said. “As a municipal council, we have seen a rise in what I would call a concerning pattern in some of the planning requests that come forward.”
Some new developments are pushing families out, the councillor explained.
“What’s happening is sometimes we are seeing proposals that displace units for larger families or people that might need more than one bedroom, and are being replaced with small bachelor apartments or single-bedroom units,” the councillor said. “If those individuals lose their homes, then we know just by existing in a rural community in southwestern Ontario, it might be much harder to find another three-bedroom apartment or a place where they might be able to reside.”
Even though Chatham-Kent has created a bylaw to protect tenants from unlawful renovictions earlier this year, Harrigan said more needs to be done, as legal renovations can impact the supply of suitable family housing. Currently, tenant-landlord issues are governed by the Landlord Tenant Board or the Ontario Land Tribunal.
“We’re often told this (loss of rental units) is outside of municipal control and is a provincial issue,” she added. “That’s where I see advocacy as being the opportunity for us to move this issue forward.”
Following a friendly amendment from Chatham Coun. Marjorie Crew, council also directed administration to send the letter with the request to Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack as well as the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).
Councillors attending last week’s AMO conventions were expected to bring the message to top officials.
