CORNWALL – A Cornwall councillor has successfully staved off a bid by city administration to kill a proposed landlord licencing regime.
Addressing council Monday night, Coun. Carilyne Hebert says the staff report, which recommended not to go ahead with a rental licencing registry, did not do enough statistical analysis and the public consultation was “not accessible to the most vulnerable tenants in the community.”
With the pandemic, Hebert says the consultation could have waited a year to get better results.
“The report does not provide any information on how successful the programs have been in other communities. The report fails to objectively address the one key question – does it work?” she said.
“The recommendations in this report will not address the problem. It will not protect our vulnerable population. It will likely look like more of the same which is not working and is putting people at risk,” Hebert stated.
The program, first proposed by former fire chief Pierre Voisine, would see landlords pay between $50 to $300 – possibly $400 – every three years based on the state of compliance to various building, electrical and health and safety requirements.
Coun. Todd Bennett supported Hebert’s deferral because he had a lot of questions about how tenants in poor conditions are going to be protected. “Most of us have gotten emails about black mould on walls and landlords not doing anything about it.”
Planning General Manager Mark Boileau says the program would take “considerable manpower” to deliver and the housing situation would “not be in a better position after putting in this program,” based on a review of other communities.
“Is the registry actually going to make a difference in us dealing with the issues that are out there? I think we thought at first that it would, and I think it can, but it’s not necessarily going to get you the results you’re looking for,” Boileau added.
He noted there are already a backlog of 100 cases on the bylaw department’s desk with the number of complaints increasing, possibly due to more people being at home during the pandemic. He says some cases are complicated and “complex” because they also involve mental health issues.
The city spent $9,000 in June 2020 to undertake the study. City statistics show 30 per cent of Cornwall’s housing stock is rental units, almost 21 per cent higher than the Ontario average.