Housing advocates gathered outside city hall Tuesday morning in support of the second reading of a landlord registration bylaw — which later passed in a 15-1 vote.
“This is about people’s lives, this is about health and safety,” said Hannah Wood, chair of ACORN’s peninsular Halifax chapter.
The advocate group is in support of the changes to HRM bylaws, looking to ensure fire and life safety through proactive inspections and landlord accountability.
“If we don’t maintain buildings then they fall apart, then they get demolished and what gets rebuilt in their place? Something affordable? Rarely to never,” Wood said. “So, it’s about keeping what we have in good shape.”
Devon Smith, a student renter, attended the event to voice her frustration with the continuing issue of finding affordable and accessible housing.
“I think that sometimes landlords definitely target and exploit students because of how unfamiliar we are and how many people don’t know any of the bylaws,” said Smith.
ACORN’s Dartmouth chapter chair Lisa Hayhurst spoke at the rally, saying landlord registration will make a difference in the lives of tenants.
“Tenants do not deserve buildings that are run down,” Hayhurst said. “All tenants deserve to live in a place that they are proud to call home and where landlords take pride in their buildings.”
Inside, councillors debated the topic before passing the motion — determining that the landlord registry will move forward.
“The key thing is to be able to aggregate the data and identify if landlords or companies are having a pattern of bad behaviour or not meeting the minimum standards,” said Coun. Waye Mason.
He says the registry is not about punishing landlords, it’s about setting standards and maintaining them.
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City staff told council that there is nothing in the amendments that a “typical landlord” shouldn’t already be doing.
“Part of the messaging, I believe, is going to be to student unions and universities and the immigrant associations telling people, ‘Don’t rent from somebody unless they’re listed as a legal apartment.’ And that very small percentage of people who are building illegal basement apartments that aren’t safe, that don’t have secondary fire escapes and all that kind of stuff, it will be harder and harder for them to rent and then easier and easier to actually find them,” Mason said.
Registering rental properties will require no fee and city staff are looking to get everyone registered within a year.
The registry will be monitored over the next two years, at which point staff will return to council to provide an update on the “successes and failures” before next steps.
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