WHEREAS City Council declared “an Affordable Housing and Homelessness Crisis and Emergency” at its meeting of January 29, 2020, and where it joined the “Solve the Crisis" campaign of the Ontario's Big City Mayors (OBCM), focused on addressing the homelessness and mental health/addictions crisis in Ontario; and
WHEREAS Bill 60 – Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025, received 3rd reading in the Ontario Legislative Assembly and is being presented to the Lieutenant Governor for Royal Assent; and
WHEREAS Schedule 12 of Bill 60 amends the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 to, among other things, make changes to the Landlord Tenant Tribunal (LTB) with a focus on strengthening landlord rights, providing shorter timelines for tenant evictions, and improving the speed and effectiveness of the LTB to address the active case backlog; and
WHEREAS the Province rescinded consultation on alternative options on lease agreement expiry, which may lead to the end of fixed term leases; and
WHEREAS the rest of the amendments as per the technical brief (pages 11-15) to Residential Tenancies Act curtail tenant rights at the LTB; and
WHEREAS the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) recognizes that landlords need adequate rights to provide rental opportunities and increase housing supply, but does not endorse the amendments citing the need for a balanced approach that provides tenants with strong protection from unlawful and illegal evictions such as bad faith renovations;
WHEREAS more than 130 organizations have signed an open letter asking the provincial government to repeal proposed changes to rental protections they warn will deepen the province’s housing and homelessness crisis; and
WHEREAS ACORN launched an online action calling on the provincial government to drop its proposals, in which 23,000 Ontarians sent emails to Premier Ford, Housing Minister Rob Flack, Attorney General Doug Downey, and MPPs across the province demanding they do not make amendments that erode tenants’ rights at the LTB; and
WHEREAS those who support the provincial government’s amendments cite the possibility that this will free up many vacant units and incent landlords to rent; and
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa has a comparatively low vacancy rate, and the amount of renters is expected to jump from around 36 per cent of Ottawa households to 43 per cent by 2035, according to the City’s Housing Needs Assessment; and
WHEREAS Council just passed the Housing Action Plan (HAP) on October 8, 2025, in which consolidating and strengthening the capacity for affordable housing development is 1 of 5 key objectives; and
WHEREAS Report ACS2025-SI-SPO-0002 of the HAP, Recommendation 6 directed staff to “report back on progress, assess the comprehensiveness of the Housing Acceleration Plan against current conditions, and propose updates as needed by May 2026”; and
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa has approved studying the feasibility of a rental renovation license program (Renoviction Bylaw) in order to help protect the rights of tenants;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Mayor write to the Premier, the Attorney General, and the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs of Ontario to share Council’s commitment to protecting the rights of tenants to a safe and affordable home; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Mayor request that the Government of Ontario continue to work with the City to fund and deliver more affordable housing units in Ottawa; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that staff include in their ongoing reporting on the Housing Acceleration Plan the progress and assessment of current market conditions, and metrics to look at the health and affordability of the rental market supply in Ottawa.