Tenants who haven’t had any running water at an apartment in central Hamilton, Ont., for two months may have to wait longer before the problem is resolved.
Seven households at 1083 Main St. E. have had dry taps since Dec. 28 and despite reaching out to bylaw services within days of the problem, residents are still waiting for the landlord to complete the repair work ordered by the city.
“I’ve suffered serious emotional and physical trauma from the lack of water,” 18-year resident David Galvin said in correspondence to city councillors.
“I know that at least some of my neighbours are as stressed as I am. Our health is at risk because we can’t properly wash our hands or our dishes, or routinely flush our toilets.”
Galvin went on to explain his fellow occupants are “sick, elderly and/or disabled” and that all are low‐income and can’t afford market rent anywhere else.
The tenants say their late December notice to the city received a response Jan. 3 giving the landlord a 19-day order to complete a fix.
That order expired on Jan. 24, and there is still no running water.
The city has since been providing the tenants with potable water.
Ward 3 Coun. Nrinder Nann characterized the situation as “absolutely unacceptable” and has since visited her constituents at the building who expressed “a lack of dignity” amid the circumstance.
“The fact that some of those residents were offered accommodation that was halfway across the city without any access to access to transit to get to … is totally unacceptable from my perspective, for the landlord to offer,” said Nann.
Complicating the matter is an ongoing Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) dispute amid a submission from the property owner, 1083 Main St. Inc., to have N13 applications approved to end tenancy in the 60-unit building and vacate the complex.
After the water stopped flowing, the owner’s first communication with tenants insisted the repair would “extend water issues on and off for quite some time” and that tenants reach out to a paralegal representing 1083 to “readdress potential relocation.”
Tennant advocacy group ACORN Hamilton told Global News the apartment has sat mostly vacant for the past two years with the seven complainants being the only ones still residing at the dwelling.
Previous residents had vacated the property amid buyouts and through N13 notices, according to ACORN.
The remaining occupants were disappointed by a property standards committee on Tuesday when the city backed a submission from the landlord requesting tenants vacate residences to complete the water repair.
The city’s director of municipal law told councillors Wednesday communication on a new order requiring repairs will be passed on to residents to explain “next steps” which include “proactively working with tenants” on their accommodations during the next few weeks.
The order is requiring the landlord to make necessary repairs in addition to taking over the provision of potable water from the city.
“The decision (Tuesday) requires the matter to be back before the property status committee no more than 45 days,” Monica Ciriello explained.
“There’s still an outstanding landlord tenant board matter which is coming forth on March 8, so we anticipate that soon after that.”
Ward 9 Coun. Brad Clark said he was stunned, “trying to understand” how this occurrence ended up in front of councillors in the first place, since it was not “soil being piled up in a backyard” or “rats running free” but a simple matter running water.
“I’m really troubled by this,” Clark said Wednesday.
“If this is happening here … there will be another building down the street where they’ll shut off the water and claim, well, we got a broken pipe and forced everyone out and then it’s all over.”
Ward 2 Coun. Cameron Kroetsch queried whether current city bylaws would allow staff to bring on a contractor to repair the issue and charge it back to the property owner.
Hamilton’s general manager Jason Thorne said those provisions do exist but are currently contingent on the latest deadline, which isn’t expected back in front of the property status committee until March.
“Then just like with a sidewalk situation, or a long grass and weeds, or one of those sort of typical property standards violations, that remedy does exist for the city,” said Thorne.
The city is already in the midst of preparing a report via a consultant currently looking at a renoviction bylaw in New Westminster, B.C., which designates rental-only zoning in certain regions of the municipality.
Healthy and safe communities general manager Angie Burden told city councillors that report is expected back in April for council’s review.
Meanwhile, ACORN is calling on the city to investigate strengthening Hamilton’s property standards bylaw and vital services bylaw to prevent a similar situation in the future as well as pass a city-wide landlord licensing program to ensure landlords are keeping their properties in good repair.