Item - 2021.PH21.11

The Planning and Housing Committee:

1.  Re-established the Subcommittee on the Protection of Affordable Rental Housing and appoint the following Members for a term of office until November 14, 2022:

Councillor Paula Fletcher, as Chair

Councillor Brad Bradford

Councillor Gord Perks

2. Directed the Subcommittee to meet a maximum of 10 times.

3.  Adopted the following Terms of Reference for the Subcommittee on the Protection of Affordable Rental Housing:

1. Support the City of Toronto to better assist and protect tenants to stay in their

apartments and protect the affordable housing supply in Toronto through the following

measures:

a. Support tenants facing eviction from N13 and N12, including education materials and awareness campaigns on existing city resources and policies to protect affordable rental housing; and oversee the development of a best practice rapid response mechanism to address N12 and N13 evictions.

b. Develop standards and guidelines to better align Toronto Buildings notices and orders to comply with the standards set in the Residential Tenancies Act.

c. Identify recommended policy changes to the Residential Tenancies Act that would limit N13 and N12 eviction to be for valid purposes only.

d. Identify mechanisms for tracking and monitoring data on N12 and N13 evictions, above guideline rent increases, and changes to the short-term rental housing stock.

e. Determine what additional role city legal can play in supporting tenants with

disputed N13 evictions.

f. Coordinate input from community legal service providers and other relevant

stakeholders on better coordination between the city and non-profit legal services agencies supporting residents with Landlord and Tenant Board matters.

g. Continue to engage with community members and housing organizations who have been working on these issues, including special consultations.

h. Determine the impact energy retrofits have on N13 evictions and above-guideline rent increases in Toronto and provide recommendations to the City's draft retrofit policy framework, the 'Existing Buildings Emissions Reduction Strategy.

2. Determine the impact of N13 and N12 evictions on the supply of affordable housing in

Toronto and provide feedback to the City's implementation of Housing Plan 2020-2030.

Since its inception in 2019, the Subcommittee for the Protection of Affordable Rental Housing has worked with City staff, tenant and anti-poverty advocacy groups, legal aid clinics, tenants associations and tenants with lived experienced of evictions to keep as many currently affordable units available as possible and to prevent illegitimate evictions.

That work was somewhat delayed, complicated and made all that much more important by the Covid-19 pandemic.  Aspects of the Ontario government's Bill 184 and shortcomings in the online hearing process for the Landlord and Tenant Board have exacerbated this problem.

Problematic N12 and N13 evictions continue to plague Torontonians.   'Renovictions' are when false or misleading information about renovations is used to evict tenants. The Landlord and Tenant Board document for notifying tenants about renovations is an N13 – "Notice to End your Tenancy Because the Landlord Wants to Demolish, Repair  the Rental Unit" while quite often the work that is actually planned  does not require a tenant to permanently vacate the unit. The N 12 is "Notice to End Your Tenancy Because the Landlord, a Purchaser or a Family Member Requires the Rental Unit".  The media and community groups continue to report an abuse of this process as well.

A critical next step for the Subcommittee to oversee would be the development of the capacity and procedures for a rapid response mechanism to address this ongoing risk to Toronto's affordable housing supply, and to provide fairness and stability for Toronto's tenants.