Don’t delay Hamilton landlord licensing pilot: councillors

Two Hamilton city councillors are urging their colleagues to support a rental housing licensing pilot in their wards to help stamp out decrepit units.

Students, newcomers to Canada or people with low incomes are often tenants who end up suffering through the squalor, Coun. John-Paul Danko says.

They find themselves living in really substandard conditions and they're being taken advantage of."

Rental licensing is really the only leverage" the city has to ensure many people aren't packed into formerly single-family homes with safety issues, Danko said.

The west Mountain councillor and Coun. Maureen Wilson, who represents the west end, are calling for the immediate implementation of the two-year pilot for small-scale rentals in Ward 1, Ward 8 and part of Ward 14 after years of discussion.

Properties have been carved up to maximize revenues for their investor owners," Wilson said in a news release.

They are businesses and need to be treated as such. The city licenses and inspects restaurants and hair salons for reasons of health and safety. Why not these rental properties?"

But city staff say with the lingering COVID-19 pandemic - amid concerns of tenant displacement and rising rents - it's the wrong time to start the pilot and recommend reporting back on the idea in early 2023.

The pandemic has significantly increased the pressure" on the rental market and housing stock, notes a report before Tuesday's planning committee.

Rents are rising while vacancy rates for cheaper units are down. The report also warns of potential" displacement with provincial eviction moratoriums lifted.

Introducing a rental housing licensing regime at this time could have a further destabilizing (effect) on the rental housing market."

The pilot - which focuses on wards with student rentals near Mohawk College and McMaster University - would apply to single-family, semi-detached and multiplex properties of up to four units.

Staff estimate the pilot would cost about $2 million to operate and draw about $1.68 million in revenue, resulting in a net tax levy impact of around $330,000

Landlords would spend $215 a year for a city licence, but also on other fees and potential costs to improve properties.

Danko and Wilson say the pilot should have fees that ensure landlords - and not taxpayers - pay for the pilot's operation.

Landlords, meanwhile, warn any new costs imposed on them will end up being recovered through jacked rents.

The wait list for affordable housing in the city is already several thousand, and anyone can witness various tents set up along the highway or parks where some are forced to live," Paul Martindale, of Wink Properties and Realty Inc., said via email.

Licensing will lead to a huge loss of rental units," predicted Arun Pathak, past president of the Hamilton and District Apartment Association.

With Toronto buyers making big offers for Hamilton homes, more costs for small landlords could be the tipping point that convinces them to leave the rental market, Pathak said.

Why don't they just take the money and get out of the business? I see lots of losses," he said.

But a tenant advocate who has called for citywide rental licensing for years dismisses such warnings and argues delaying the pilot would be dangerous."

Without the pilot, rents will continue to spike amid renovictions" to increase profits, says Mike Wood, a member of Hamilton Tenants in Unity.

Landlords are looking for every which way to displace old renters in order to get higher rents."

Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.com