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 the government of Ontario tabled Bill 60 – Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025, on Oct 23, 2025; 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 has decided to rescind consultation on the most contentious amendment, namely, that the government would consult on alternative options on lease agreement expiry – which is code for ending fixed term leases; and
WHEREAS the rest of the proposed amendments as per the technical brief (pgs 11-15) to Residential Tenancies Act would severely 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 dangerous 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 proposed amendments cite the possibility that this will free up many vacant units and incent landlords to rent; and
WHEREAS the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives challenged the assertion by provincial Attorney General that “…..I’m convinced, if we get the right balance, we’ll unlock tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of new units.”, by combining the vacant unit reports for the 4 most populated areas of the province, adding up only to 17,800 vacant units; and
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa has a comparatively low vacancy rate, for example, of the 6,355 units accessed as vacant, 42 per cent were exempt from the vacant unit tax due to an acceptable reason for being empty and that the amount of renters is expected to jump from around 36 per cent of Ottawa households to jump to 43 per cent by 2035, according to the city’s Housing Needs Assessment; and
WHEREAS Council just passed the Housing Action Plan on October 8, 2025, in which it provides major incentives for builders and landlords, but not at the expense of renters, and in which consolidate and strengthen capacity for affordable housing development is 1 of 5 key objectives of the plan; and
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa has approved studying the feasibility of a rental renovation license program (Renoviction Bylaw) that would be completely undercut if the amendments were to pass.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED City Council inform the Government of Ontario of its opposition to changes to the Residential Tenancies Act in Bill 60 and the weakening of tenant rights, including contemplated changes to “security of tenure” or a further weakening of rent control, through the Mayor writing to the Premier, Attorney General, Finance and Housing Ministers of Ontario on behalf of Council;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that City Council request of the Government of Ontario to reinstate the rent control provisions on rental homes first occupied after 2018.