RHB Magazine May/June 2024 - Regional Association Voice

Hot Topics:

LPMA describes how the tenantlandlord forum is improving renting conditions for Londoners, and announces the opening of the Cross Cultural Learner Centre. pg. 49

HDAA discusses the Vacant Home Tax and provides updates on the licensing pilot project and the LRT. pg. 53

EOLO provides details on the City of Ottawa's anti-renoviction by-law and updates the multi-res solid waste plan. pg. 57

SKLA provides details on the Association's key events, member services, and stakeholder relations. pg. 61

The Member Associations

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Springing toward change

As property managers and owners, let’s use the spring season to refresh our properties and enhance the rental experience for tenants. Creating positive change can be accomplished by sprucing up common areas, organizing community events or implementing eco-friendly initiatives.

LPMA’s annual trade show took place on April 9 and it was a great success. It was terrific to see industry experts gathered together to network. Attendees had an opportunity to visit exhibitor booths featuring cutting-edge technologies, sustainable solutions, and essential services tailored to the needs of property management professionals. We are already looking forward to next year.

Be sure to attend our AGM on May 7. On May 8, LPMA will hold its spring food drive in support of the London Food Bank.

Thinking of sponsoring events or meetings? LPMA is launching a new annual tier sponsorship program to provide maximum benefit and exposure for associates and members. If you’re interested, contact info@ lpma.ca for more information.

Warmest wishes,

- Richie Anand, President, LPMA

TENANT–LANDLORD FORUM IS IMPROVING RENTING CONDITIONS FOR LONDONERS

When London’s tenant-landlord forum was created at City Hall in 2022, it aimed to upgrade the quality of rental accommodations through collaboration. At that time, a local tenant advocacy group wanted the City to create a bylaw enforcement program similar to Toronto’s RentSafe. Lisa Smith, municipal affairs chair with LPMA and a forum member, said she fought that proposal on LPMA’s behalf. She was concerned about the costs of hiring more bylaw enforcement officers, which would ultimately reflect on property taxes. London also has a rental licensing system, which regulates and provides standards for buildings with four and fewer units. In addition, buildings owned and/ or managed by LPMA members tend to be well maintained.

Ethan Ling, a policy program analyst at City Hall, said forum members find commonality in an exchange of information and ideas. By contrast, groups represent their own positions when they advocate in council chambers.

“The forum provides a venue for participating organizations to collaborate with a view to improving information, processes, and systems,” Ling said. “We didn’t want to take away the different organizations’ ability to act politically if they wanted to at committee and council.”

Members, who represent legal aid and tenant advocacy groups as well as LPMA, meet regularly to discuss common problems in rental housing.

“We came up with the (idea of) building blitzes where bylaw officers do some blitzes throughout London in buildings of concern,” Smith said.

The buildings initially chosen were those with the most complaints followed by buildings in zones throughout the city. The City posts notices to inform tenants that a blitz will be carried out.

A bylaw officer can inspect tenants’ units if asked as well as common areas to determine the work that needs to be done. The officer then gives the landlord an order to fix the problem if warranted.

Richie Anand

Other forum initiatives include asking the City to provide a list of resources for tenants and landlords on its website. Ling said the work was completed eight months ago. For example, the landlord section includes links to City of London bylaws that relate to rental housing and to community supports, including landlord organizations. It can be accessed at https://london.ca/ living-london/community-services/ rental-housing-support/informationproperty-owners-landlords. The forum has also requested links on the home page, one for tenants and one for landlords, that will take visitors directly to those areas.

In addition, the forum has asked for an update to the City’s website to make it easier for individuals to navigate and locate the information they need. At a first-ever tenant support fair at City Hall in March, volunteers helped tenants navigate the website and register a total of 60 complaints.

The fair was organized by the forum and was represented by 17 organizations. Participating groups wanted to make the fair a positive experience so tenants would receive correct information, Smith noted. About 100 tenants attended the event.

“The people who came in had great questions,” Smith said. “There wasn’t a protest, they just needed information and they got the right information, which was the whole reason for this support on what to do with their concerns.”

Tenants, some of whom were homeless or couch surfing, were concerned that they weren’t able to find an affordable unit.

Representatives from the Housing Stability Bank gave them information about their program, which helps eligible low-income Londoners with interest-free loans for rent arrears.

Several tenants asked Smith why a landlord group like LPMA was there.

“My response was, ‘Well, why wouldn’t we be? Why wouldn’t we want to educate the public?’” she said. “We are not in the business to evict so why wouldn’t we want to give them the tools and resources that are out there to instruct or help them with their concerns.”

It’s expected that another tenant support fair will be held next year.

THE CROSS CULTURAL LEARNER CENTRE OPENS THE DOOR TO HOUSING NEWCOMERS

Since 1968, the Cross Cultural Learner Centre (CCLC) has been helping newcomers to Canada find a better life, starting with a place to live. The demand for its services is so great that it’s expanding its role as London’s leading resettlement agency to become a rental housing provider.

CCLC has purchased the land at 763-769 Dundas St. and expects to break ground in the next year on two apartment buildings. They include a 202-unit, 24-storey highrise and a 30-unit low-rise building, both with a mix of affordable and market rents. CCLC has also become an LPMA member.

“We want to learn as much as possible,” said Valerian Marochko, CCLC’s executive director. “Now that we will become a landlord, so to speak, in a position to perform our duties up to the standard, there’s a lot of learning that we expect from this association with the organization. We want to become as good as we can.”

Valerian Marochko Executive Director

The agency will also contribute its knowledge to aid LPMA members, Marochko said. For example, communication or cultural barriers can be obstacles when newcomers move into rental housing. CCLC’s staff members educate them about their rights and responsibilities as tenants and provide information to landlords about newcomers’ needs and what to expect.

“We are really appreciative of the landlords who make an extra effort to accommodate newcomer families,” Marochko said. “The newcomers are good tenants. If the landlord has an issue, they can call us so there's an assurance for them that it will be taken care of on a timely basis.”

Although some newcomers can be temporarily accommodated at two CCLC reception centres, others end up at Mission Services, a shelter and social service agency, and in other City shelters. Landlords and homeowners provide rental units and rooms in homes, but it isn’t enough to meet the need, particularly when London’s rental vacancy rate is just 1.7 per cent.

Marochko said the increase in demand for the agency’s services started a few years ago when Canada committed to resettling 40,000 Afghan refugees.

“That target was achieved and our resettlement assistance program has received 835 people from Afghanistan since August 2021,” he recalled.

Since 2022, CCLC has helped 7,000 newcomers to find employment, locate permanent housing, and have their documents translated.

The agency receives federal government money that funds a reception centre, Jeremiah‘s House, for government-assisted refugees. The government covers temporary accommodations there until rental housing is found, usually in just

35 days; hotels are used for the overflow. Last year, CCLC housed more than 1,000 refugees or about 300 families in the centre, which has a 30-person capacity.

Others, who are not funded by the federal government, make refugee claims when they arrive in Canada. A second reception centre for refugee claimants, Joseph’s House, has a 14-person capacity. Operated by fundraising alone, claimants stay there for two to three months on average.

“It‘s a safe place for refugee claimants,” Marochko said.

With the number of newcomers arriving in London, CCLC joined forces with Mission Services to request funding from the province. It was secured last December and CCLC is planning to hire three staff members, including a settlement counsellor, housing co-ordinator, and employment counsellor. That’s compared to just one staff person who provided settlement services to 700 people in the last year. Marochko said staff members are grateful for the advocacy of London mayor Josh Morgan and the support of councillor Corinne Rahman.

“The need is going on,” Marochko noted. “There are still people arriving from Ukraine and many Londoners open their homes. It’s like a match between an offer and the Ukrainian newcomer family. What they need could be a room or a second unit that people have and we‘ve been working to support the Ukrainian newcomers. I would say Canadians and Londoners have been generous and we really appreciate this welcome that newcomers have been receiving.”

London Property Management Association (LPMA) is a non-profit organization, located in London, Ontario, Canada, that provides information and education to landlords.

LPMA represents the interests of both large and small property owners. The association has more than 400 landlord members representing approximately 35,000 rental units. Membership is open to landlords and property management professionals who own or manage one or more residential rental units. Ph: 519-672-6999 Web: www.LPMA.ca

Sign up online or call Tina Potter.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The warmer months are slowly reaching us and the HDAA is busy preparing for our larger annual events. We will have our Annual Golf Tournament on June 4 and will be holding our Annual Trade Show a little later this year on October 8. There has been some more news from the City on the licensing pilot project. We also have some updates on the Vacant Home Tax, which had a final vote recently. We continue our fight against various bylaws targeting the rental housing industry, which are very detrimental to all housing providers.

- Daniel Chin, President, HDAA

Vacant Home Tax

The Vacant Home Tax, which was initially set to start this year but was struck down late last year, had another vote to decide whether it will be proceeding in 2025. The previous 9-6 vote struck down the tax with those opposed saying they were concerned residents would be wrongly taxed and equated the tax to negative billing. Those in support believe the tax would encourage residential property owners to keep their properties occupied, increasing supply in the city, while cracking down on investors who buy homes and let them sit empty. The revenue from the tax would go toward more affordable housing.

The HDAA had rallied the troops and sent countless emails to councillors on the negative effects the tax would have on housing providers and renters, as well as residents who may not realize they need to declare their home status on their tax bills. Headlines were made in Toronto of the disastrous rolling out of their vacant home tax, which resulted in over 120,000 complaints to the City and tens of thousands of Toronto residents contesting bills for thousands of dollars because they failed to declare whether their home was vacant.

On April 24, council voted again on the Vacant Home Tax and passed the tax with a 9-6 vote. An additional one per cent tax, on the assessed value of a home, will apply to residents’ property taxes in 2025 if they own a vacant property. The bylaw will require all property owners to formally declare their property’s status annually between January and March 31. The City will consider a unit to be vacant if it was unoccupied for more than 183 days in the previous calendar year, or if the

bylaw deems it so. Officials have said over 1,000 property owners will be taxed, generating over $4 million in revenue in the program’s first year.

Mayor Andrea Horwath commented, “In the face of a declared housing crisis, it is unacceptable for there to be units sitting vacant in the City of Hamilton, which is why I am so pleased to see council’s reconsideration and approval of the Vacant Unit Tax.” As we have argued in our submissions, leaving a property empty is not in the interest of a housing provider and speculative buying has decreased significantly. The money spent on this initiative would have been better spent on providing housing subsidies to those in need, as the effect of this tax will likely be very minimal in increasing rental housing supply.

Update on the licensing pilot project

The licensing pilot project in Hamilton is set to finish at the end of 2025, at which time we expect the City to want to continue with licensing and make it city-wide. The licensing pilot project requires a license for rental housing units and buildings or part of buildings with five or fewer self-contained units, detached homes or townhouses and includes annual fees, zoning verifications, site sketches or surveys, and fire and electrical inspections.

The project was approved after concerns from community members, property owners, and students regarding “illegal dwelling units,” “absentee landlords,” property standards, and yard maintenance complaints. Once the evaluation

of the pilot program is complete, City staff will provide a report for council to determine if the program should indeed be implemented city-wide. License fees are to reflect full cost recovery based on the assumption that approximately 2,000 rental units are licensed by the end of the pilot program and then annually moving forward. Should the program achieve the projected license numbers, there would be no cost to taxpayers.

In April, staff provided their fourth update, which focused on information from all zones included in the pilot and between April 1, 2022 and December 31, 2023. As of February 1, 2024, 821 applications were received and 247 licenses have been issued. Each zone within the pilot wards had an application intake period of three months. As of December 31, 2023, the proactive enforcement of the Rental Housing License Bylaw has begun in all seven zones.

Licensing Compliance Officers proactively investigated 1,289 properties in zones past their application period, resulting in an increase in zoning verification applications and license applications. Staff identified 55.2 per cent of all applications have been received as a direct result of proactive enforcement since the application period began.

Of the original 2000 suspected rental housing units

247 licenses have been issued

Although the application numbers seem much higher than the last update (223 applications and 69 licensed as of March 31, 2023), they are still less than half of the projected 2,000 suspected rental housing units. If this stays true, this will mean that the program will not be full cost recovery and taxpayers will need to make up the difference. As with many of the new bylaws directed at the rental industry, this is another waste of taxpayers’ money for little effect. Most landlords in Hamilton are good landlords and Hamilton would have been better off targeting the bad players directly.

LRT update

The Hamilton Light Rail Transit (LRT) is full steam ahead with recent discussions on who will be leading the operation of the rail.

The Hamilton LRT project will play a key role in the revitalization of Hamilton by transforming how residents travel across the heart of the city. The rail will connect key areas, destinations, and institutions with 17 stops along Main Street, King Street, and Queenston Road, creating a 14-kilometre multi-modal corridor and enhanced streetscape. It will also include a complete revitalization of both private and public utilities along the transit route, including water, gas, and telecommunications lines, setting the stage for sustainable growth for the future.

The City of Hamilton has been discussing and debating the best course of action with regard to the operation of the rail, mostly whether it should be privately or publicly run. The LRT line appears to be a step closer to being operated by a third party after councillors backed a staff recommendation suggesting the move would reduce the City’s liability. In a 9-6 vote, the General Issues committee opted to go for a proposed framework that would have a contractor launch the system and handle most operations for the first 10 years, after which the City would have an option to take it over.

Only customer service and fare enforcement would be in the City’s hands, allowing the province to take on riskier operations, like training staff, driving train cars, and conducting maintenance. The

decision still has to be ratified formally by council after which it will then be presented to provincial transit agency Metrolinx, which has the final say as the owner of the LRT.

Those who disagreed with a third party operating the rail believe the City has an obligation to run the LRT from the start; if the City is to be accountable for the transit service, it needs to have operational control. Many delegates spoke at the meeting who were in favour of fully public operations, saying a private operator would be less accountable to riders than the City, might not offer unionized jobs, and would involve the City relinquishing too much control. The public model would also be the most seamless customer experience and give the City the most control over implementing equity policies. A publicly operated option, however, is said to create the most risk for the City, which is partly the reason for wanting the rail to be operated privately.

Upcoming events

June 4, 2024 – HDAA Annual Golf Tournament

The HDAA is very excited to be hosting our next Golf Tournament on June 4! Our golf tournament is one of our more popular networking

Multi-Housing Specialist

opportunities and a great way to spend a day out of the office. As in previous years, you can look forward to a great day of golfing, an opportunity to win some great prizes, and meet other housing providers and suppliers. We will be bringing back our 50/50 draw, as well as our greatly anticipated wine cellar prize. You may find more details and register on our website.

September 11, 2024 – Dinner meeting

The HDAA will be holding our next dinner meeting on September 11. Make sure to mark your calendars and keep an eye out for our emails for more details.

October 8, 2024 – HDAA Annual Trade Show

The HDAA is excited to hold what we hope to be our biggest Trade Show this fall! Our Trade Show is attended by hundreds of rental housing providers and community members, as well as dozens of suppliers to the industry. Our keynote speaker event, which takes place before the Trade Show, will have some of the largest names in the rental housing industry. You may find more details on our website as well as our vendor registration form.

Chair’s message

Housing policy issues are back in the forefront of the news, with many federal and provincial announcements, as described in other sections of this issue (and the previous issue) of RHB Magazine . This section focuses on the City of Ottawa’s decision to direct City staff to study the new Hamilton antirenoviction by-law, and to provide advice on what steps, if any, the City should take to police tenancy terminations for major repairs or renovations. The section ends with a note about a small change to the multi-residential solid waste collection plan.

- John Dickie, Chair, Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization

City of Ottawa moves on an anti-renoviction by-law

As reported recently in Ottawa’s daily newspapers, the City has decided to have staff study Hamilton’s newly enacted anti-renoviction by-law, with a view to considering a similar by-law for Ottawa. Set out below are perspectives that came up in the public submissions and in the debate at both the City Committee and Council. The perspectives come up repeatedly in City debates on various specific housing policy issues.

Competing perspectives on current housing policy issues

Rental housing owners

Private providers tend to provide better quality rental housing at the least cost since the profit motive promotes efficiency. Non-profits can charge less only because of government subsidies or other charitable contributions.

More rental supply is the answer to rising market rents. Looser government restrictions and lower government charges will help to increase rental supply.

Owners have a right to move their rental units to market rent, at least when tenants turn over.

Building larger rental housing buildings on sites with existing housing is an important way to achieve more housing. Many sites do not permit staged developments with replacement units built before the main new buildings are built. Even when that is feasible, it would delay new development and raise its cost.

Rental regulations need to be reasonable to encourage investors to provide rental housing. To have a rental sector, you need people willing to invest money in rental housing.

Renters should be well-housed and affordably housed, and the cost of the affordability should be borne by society as a whole, just as the need for food and clothing is met by society as a whole, not by food retailers and clothing stores.

Housing advocates

Non-profit or publicly funded housing providers are generally as efficient at private providers. Since they do not need to earn profit, they provide a better use of tax money to subsidize rents in the long run.

New market rental supply is not affordable. The government might as well collect all it can from new supply, and force developers to replace all the affordable housing they demolish with replacement units, at a similar rent.

Society has a right to control rents even on turnover. That is an important and legitimate way to retain the affordable housing that low income and middle-income people need.

No existing affordable housing should be demolished unless the units are replaced with equivalent units at the same rents in the same neighbourhood, preferably before the existing units are demolished. This would enable existing tenants to move directly into the replacement units.

Renting out housing is highly profitable, and rental investors can tolerate strict regulations, which are needed to protect tenants.

Renters should be well-housed and affordably housed, and the cost of the affordability should be borne largely by rental housing providers because no one should make a profit at the expense of the human right to housing.

Some councillors hold one set of views firmly. Many councillors hold views somewhere in the middle, or on one side on some issues and on the other side on other issues.

EOLO works with many councillors to explain the rental industry’s positions, and to achieve compromises that enable the rental industry to succeed even though there are more controls and requirements than rental housing providers would like to see.

Ottawa’s Planning and Housing Committee

The main Ottawa debate on the study of Hamilton’s anti-renoviction by-law took place at the Planning and Housing Committee on April 24. Housing policy has been the responsibility of that committee since the responsibilities of the different City committees were set immediately after the election of 2022, when numerous housing responsibilities were added to the responsibilities of the Planning Committee.

The members of that committee are Councillors Leiper, Gower, Brockington, Curry, Dudas, Johnson, Kavanagh, Kelly, Kitts, Lo, Tierney, and Troster. Councillor Leiper is the Chair, while Councillor Gower is the Vice-Chair.

The Planning and Housing Committee is responsible for overseeing all development and planning within the urban boundary in accordance with the City’s Official Plan through the zoning by-law, community development plans, and site plan requirements. The committee also reviews and makes recommendations to council on all issues related to development charges (DCs) and community benefit charges.

On the housing side, the Planning and Housing Committee is responsible for making recommendations to council on:

• Housing policies in accordance with the City’s Official Plan, the 10 Year Housing and Homelessness Plan and related strategies, including those related to:

 Housing requirements and targets for the City of Ottawa including those related to affordability and inclusionary zoning

 Federal and provincial housing-related policy initiatives

 Capital asset management for the City’s community housing providers

 Reports on the housing situation in the City

 Implementation of the City of Ottawa Affordable Housing Strategy and all related housing policy initiatives

• How to adequately and affordably increase the supply of housing for Ottawa residents, and provide options for increasing the supply of affordable housing

• Capital funding of affordable housing programs and the Long-Range Financial Plan for Housing

• Capital funding opportunities from other levels of government or other sources, supporting projects along the spectrum of housing-related needs from new construction, to renovations of affordable, supportive, and transitional housing

You can see that for councillors with the view that society has the right to control rents, it is attractive for the City to become involved in controlling rents, even though other people would say that is a policy matter reserved for the province (since it affects economic development and property rights within the province).

Councillor Troster represents Somerset ward (Centretown), the ward that was represented by Catherine McKenney, and before that by Diane Holmes. Like her predecessors, Councillor Troster is a strong advocate of tenants’ rights. Early this year, she laid the groundwork to bring a motion to direct City staff to study Hamilton’s newly enacted anti-renoviction by-law.

The new Hamilton by-law

The new Hamilton by-law requires all landlords who give an N13 notice (to evict a tenant for major repairs or renovations) to apply for a City permit to proceed with the N13. The application to the City must be made within seven days, based on filing the City’s own building permit for the work to be done, and a report by a building professional that the work requires vacant possession. (Under current provincial law, the permit and the report are required if the issue proceeds to a hearing at the Landlord and Tenant Board, but they are not required before that time.)

To obtain Hamilton’s permit pursuant to the new by-law, the landlord will also have to agree to provide the tenant with alternate accommodation while the repairs or renovations are done, or to fund the tenant in alternate accommodation. (Hamilton sees the current provincial requirement of one to three month’s rent as insufficient).

Hamilton intends to use the landlord’s application as a trigger to send an information package to the affected tenants. The information package will ensure the tenant knows their right to an increased compensation package, and that they are allowed to move back into the renovated unit at the previous rent.

The budgeted cost for the Hamilton program is close to $1,000,000 per year, for eight full-time employees and three new cars (and electric charging stations), with a cost recovery of 10 per cent through permit application fees. The budget assumes 132 applications per year, so the cost to taxpayers will be close to $7,500 per tenant helped.

City of Ottawa deliberations

As noted above, Ottawa’s Planning and Housing Committee considered Councillor Troster’s motion on April 24. EOLO appeared to represent rental owners. We submitted that the rental housing industry needed less red tape, not more, and that

the issue was under provincial jurisdiction. Our submissions fell on deaf ears, as the motion was carried with no dissenting votes.

On May 1, City Council considered the motion. As at the committee, the discussion ranged over several issues including staff work priorities, “preserving existing affordable housing”, priorities for the use of limited City funding, education for tenants through existing support agencies, a possible rental replacement by-law, and the negative impact of more regulations on infill development. The motion was carried by 20 votes to 5.

Councillors Luloff, Hubley, Darouze, Brown, and Hill voted against the anti-renoviction study. All generally respect private property rights, and prefer the City to stay out of provincial affairs and avoid unnecessary expenditures. EOLO applauds their views and their position on this issue.

City staff are to prepare their report for the Planning and Housing Committee meeting in September or October of this year. EOLO will work with staff to minimize the negative consequences of their recommendations.

If Ottawa enacts an anti-renoviction by-law, EOLO may consider bringing a court challenge of the by-law on the basis that the by-law is outside the jurisdiction of the City to enact.

Change to the multi-res solid waste plan

The March/April 2024 Edition of EOLO’s Regional Association Voice reported that the City’s plan was to change the multi-residential solid waste collection contract to not collect waste on statutory holidays. That plan has since been changed to continue the current system in which multi-residential solid waste is collected on statutory holidays except for Christmas and New Year’s Day.

BECOME AN EOLO MEMBER NOW!

EOLO invites Ottawa area landlords to join the organization. Have your interests and concerns heard, and benefit from EOLO’s support. As an EOLO member, you will be able to:

• Receive prompt emails of relevant City rule changes

• Attend two networking receptions a year

• Attend two free education events a year

• Receive all 6 annual issues of RHB Magazine with current developments, City and provincial funding programs, and landlord-tenant laws.

To apply for membership, go to www.eolo.ca, download the membership application form and send it to us at the contact info on that website.

CEO’S MESSAGE

2024 has gotten off to a very busy start here at the Association –events, new resources, and a new team member!

The Association’s Board of Directors has adopted a new strategic plan for the next three years and as a staff team we’re hard at work to ensure that we meet the goals and objectives of the Board. Over the course of the year, our members will notice new programs and services that are intended to make their jobs easier as rental housing providers and improve our industry’s knowledge and professionalism.

If you or a colleague need assistance on rental housing matters, please call our office and we’d be happy to help.

Thank you to our members for their continued support – we are much stronger when we are united together as a team.

- Cameron Choquette, CEO

Events at a glance

CMHC Rental Market Report luncheons

Our events roster kicked off with CMHC’s annual rental market luncheons in both Regina and Saskatoon, where Lead Economist Taylor Pardy and Financing Specialist Kristina Johnson joined to share their insight and expertise on the rental market report and CMHC programs for rental housing providers.

Most notable in this year’s report is the dramatic decrease in vacancy rates across Saskatchewan. Most of our markets are now at their lowest levels in nearly a decade. Visit our blog to read more about the rental market report.

Death, Drugs, and Drama

Together with Saskatoon Police Services’ Crime Free Multi-Housing program, we hosted our Death, Drugs, and Drama Lunch N’ Learn where attendees heard from the Saskatchewan Coroner, Saskatoon Police, and other experts to learn more about dealing with tenant deaths, the current drugs present in Saskatoon, how to protect tenants and staff, and how to work with tenants who might be angry or upset. Attendees were also trained on how to administer naloxone if they encounter a tenant or guest who may be overdosing.

This training proved to be helpful and fun, and each attendee received a naloxone kit and a biohazard box to safely dispose of used needles.

Cameron Choquette, CEO

Critter Control: Pests and Pets

Our next Lunch N’ Learn will be May 29 in Regina and will focus on how rental housing providers can be proactive and professional in managing pests and pets in rental properties. We will be joined by the experts at Abell Pest Control, who will give us resources on managing cockroaches and bed bugs.

Association staff will also be on hand to talk about pet agreements, pet fees, and how to care for and manage pets and their owners.

Member services

Welcome, Landon!

Joining the Association as our new Program and Operations Coordinator is Landon Field from the Edwards School of Business. Landon was here in 2022 as our co-op student and he has now completed his Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Marketing and a Certificate in Global Studies. Landon will be responsible for event planning, membership sales and administration, and coordinating the creation of a legal education program for rental housing providers.

New Limited Legal Services program

We’re very excited to announce the launch of our new Limited Legal Services program, where our members can have us file ORT claims, prepare evidence, and represent them at ORT hearings. If any of our members need assistance with ORT matters such as evictions for rent arrears, security deposit claims, monetary claims, evictions for cause or other legal form preparation. We’re approved to provide the following services:

• Basic contracts related to residential tenancies

• Matters related to the ORT, including the provision of advice, negotiation and settlement, drafting of documents, and advocacy (attendance and representation)

• A proceeding with respect to the enforcement of orders through the Court of King’s Bench as permitted by the Queen’s Bench Rules

• Services of a Notary Public

New online store

To improve access to resources, we’ve launched a new online store for members to access. Whether they’re looking for ORT forms, sample warning letters or lease agreements, the online store will be a hub for all the resources that the Association has to offer. Be sure to visit regularly as we’re always uploading new items!

Stakeholder relations

Office of Residential Tenancies

We continue to have a strong working relationship with ORT. We met with them in late March to provide an update on our work and provide feedback on the ORT portal and the increasing delay in decisions being issued by hearing officers.

We were pleased to hear that the staff complement is nearly full and that the perdiem hearing officers will be appointed in the coming weeks to ensure any risk for delays in scheduling and hearings can be mitigated.

Housing Accelerator Fund

We’ve been carefully watching both Saskatoon and Regina and how they proceed through the various steps required in the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund. So far we’ve been pleased with amendments related to accessory dwelling units and open-option parking. It’s very

important that both cities prioritize purpose-built rental housing as a means to increase housing supply for a growing province.

2024-25 Provincial Budget

Unfortunately, the Provincial Budget did not contain any new investments in the housing sector. However, it did maintain investments in the province’s secondary suite incentive and PST rebate for new home construction. These two initiatives make it easier for homeowners to provide rental housing and save money on their mortgage at the same time, but they do not incentivize large-scale purpose-built rental development.

Legal education program

Thanks to a grant from the Law Foundation of Saskatchewan, the Association is working on developing an easy-to-use and relevant legal education program for rental housing providers. The program will use existing Public Legal Education Association information and complement with real-life legal examples that will be delivered through an online asynchronous program that will include dynamic content like videos, case studies, quizzes, and more.

We are very excited to announce the preliminary development of a program that will have a direct benefit to members, improve legal compliance and professionalism among the industry, and build awareness on legal rights and responsibilities. The project timeline is anticipated to evolve over the course of the upcoming year as work progresses.

Rental Housing Dashboard

BHP is building the Jansen Potash Mine, that will account for 10 per cent of global potash production. To facilitate construction and operation of the project, east-central

Saskatchewan will see a population increase of 800 full-time staff, and an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 population influx overall.

According to BHP data, 53 per cent of those surveyed said they would prefer to rent their home, which is welcome news for the rental housing industry.

There is an immediate need for housing supply in the area to support a growing community and industry. Our Association is excited to announce that we have partnered with BHP to develop a Rental Housing Dashboard over the next four months, which will provide much-needed data to BHP, local municipalities, and industry stakeholders in the region.

As the voice of landlords in Saskatchewan, we deliver knowledge, promote best practices, and advocate for a healthy and resilient rental housing industry. We are the leading community of industry professionals who are proud to provide safe, high-quality rental homes for the people of Saskatchewan.

We work to ensure Saskatchewan’s rental housing industry meets the needs of renters, owners, and managers. Our team is dedicating to serving our members in any way that we can.

Cameron Choquette, Chief Executive Officer

1705 McKercher Dr, Saskatoon, SK S7H 5N6

eo@skla.ca