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Toronto issues health & safety policies for residential buildings

The City of Toronto released official health and safety policies for operators of large residential buildings to protect residents against the spread of COVID-19.

On March 29th, Mayor John Tory stressed the importance of practicing physical distancing in high rises—an often challenging feat. Councillor Josh Matlow echoed the sentiment for the rental sector.

“It is impossible for renters to adopt lifesaving hygiene and social distancing practices if hand sanitizer isn’t accessible and elevators and common areas are crowded,” he said. “That’s why the City of Toronto is asking landlords to protect their tenants’ health by immediately implementing a COVID-19 action plan in their building.”

Guidelines include: • Alcohol-based hand sanitizer or a hand washing station with soap and water should be placed at all building entrances. • Alcohol-based hand sanitizer should be available in all common areas that remain open, such as laundry rooms. • Close non-essential common areas such as bathrooms, gyms, playrooms, playgrounds and other high traffic areas. • Routine cleaning of frequently touched surfaces in common areas, including doorknobs, elevator buttons, light switches, toilet handles, counters, hand rails, touch screen surfaces and keypads, with common household cleaners and disinfectants. • Organize the building to accept deliveries of essential goods, like medications, for residents to avoid non-essential trips outside. • Post signage limiting the number of residents allowed in common areas, including laundry rooms and elevators, to ensure that individuals are able to maintain a two-metre distance. Consider allowing a maximum of three residents at a time in elevators.

• When showing units or suites for sale or lease, practice physical distancing – keep a safe distance of two metres from the resident and wash hands with soap and water, and or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, before and after the visit.

The city’s website is updated daily with the latest health advice and information about City services, social supports, and economic recovery measures. Check toronto.ca/covid-19 for answers to common questions before contacting the Toronto Public Health COVID-19 Hotline or 311.

Schedules for property tax payments in flux

Late penalties for Toronto property tax, water and solid waste utility bills have been suspended until mid-May. For property owners who make tax payments on the city’s regular three-installment schedule, the April 1 due was pushed to June 1. Taxpayers registered for the 11-installment pre-authorized payment plan will see the interim 2020 due dates pushed back 60 days.

Mississauga has added 90 days to the deadline for its two pending payment dates, pushing the April 2 installment date to July 2 and the May 7 due date to August 6. In other GTA cities, Oshawa is offering commercial, industrial and multi-residential ratepayers a grace period until June 30, waiving late fees and interest on payments coming due on April 27; Richmond Hill has waived penalties and interest on late property tax payments until further notice; and for now, Newmarket has suspended interest and late fees on all payments and has promised further details on potential tax deferral programs.

Ratepayers qualifying for Ottawa’s program will have until June 18 for interim tax payments and October 30 for final tax payments — an extension from the original March 19 and June 18 deadlines. In addition to meeting the CVA criteria, ratepayers must currently have paid up-to-date tax accounts to take advantage of the program.

Hamilton has thus far waived late penalties on property tax payments due April 30 for a 30 further days, but city staff is now reviewing other potential measures and will report to city council in early April. Other Ontario cities offering some form of property tax payment concessions include London, Kitchener, St. Catharines and Niagara Falls.

Mainstreet CEO joins new Alberta advisory council

Building Science | Structural CONSULTING ENGINEERS

To cope with the economic fallout of

COVID-19, the province of Alberta formed an Alberta advisory council, which includes former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Bob Dhillon, CEO of Mainstreet Equity Corp, among other notable members.

Led by economist Jack Mintz, the 12-member panel will be advising Premier Jason Kenney on issues surrounding the province’s economic recovery as it grapples with a severe downturn caused by the rapidly spreading virus and slumping energy prices.

“I was honoured to join other Albertans, including former Prime Minister Stephen Harper in being appointed to Premier Jason Kenney’s Economic Recovery Council,” Bob Dhillon commented via Twitter. “We face a challenging time, but we believe Alberta will pull through this stronger than before.”

Other business leaders on the Alberta advisory council include: • WestJet co-founder Clive Beddoe • ATCO chief executive Nancy Southern • Mac Van Wielingen, founder of ARC

Financial • Brent Blezberg, founder of TorQuest

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Ontario scaling back residential construction

Ontario announced updates to its essential services list, stating that most residential construction in the province will be paused for now in order to enforce health and safety and flatten the COVID-19 curve. No new residential construction will be allowed to start, but those with a footing permit can continue.

“We are pleased by the government’s decision to keep certain residential construction going,” says Richard Lyall, president of RESCON. “As the Premier has rightly noted, there are many people who are waiting for their homes to be finished in the next few weeks. We already have a significant housing crisis in Ontario and most of these homeowners who have sold their homes are at risk of being left on the street without these measures.”

RESCON has and will continue to emphasize that companies must meet the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development construction standards or simply not operate. Site safety is the builders’ responsibility and they must work with everyone on the construction site including sub-trades, labour unions and workers to ensure all workers and sites are safe.

“Safety has and always will be the industry’s top priority,” RESCON vice-president Andrew Pariser emphasizes. “The Occupational Health and Safety Act allows workers to refuse unsafe work, but also mandates Joint Health and Safety committees, an avenue for workers and management to address safety concerns at an early stage. Our goal is to address safety issues (COVID-19 related or not) through communication and teamwork before they become a hazard.”

On April 3rd, the Ontario Government reduced the businesses it deems essential during the COVID-19 outbreak, meaning that more rental management services and businesses were ordered to close their doors by midnight on Saturday, April 4.

As for how these additional closures will impact the rental-housing sector, the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations (CFAA) released the following comment: “The aspects of maintenance, repair and property management which are essential are those strictly necessary to manage and maintain the safety, security and essential operation of residential properties and buildings. Therefore, rental management businesses are legally allowed to continue their operations and keep their offices open for those purposes.”

CFAA recommends that all businesses continue to minimize in-person contact by operating by telephone or remotely when possible. In addition, it says rental businesses should limit employee contact with building residents to the minimum necessary in order to perform urgent repairs and to maintain the essential operations of the buildings.

Aside from property management and critical maintenance, other essential services that will continue to support the sector include: supplies and delivery, packaging, processing, waste collection, building security, financial services related to banking and payroll, insurance and more.

Organizations and providers that deliver home care and personal support services to seniors and individuals with disability will also remain essential.

Digital Earth Day 2020

Earth Day activities have gone digital for 2020. Actions to mark this year’s 50th anniversary are already occurring, in homes and online, as organizers launched 22 days of daily challenges for promoting climate change resilience on April 1. All challenges align with Earth Day 50’s SAVE framework — an acronym for: Speak up; Act; Vote; Educate.

“The intrinsic connections between human health and planetary health sparked the first Earth Day in 1970 and, today, we must rise to meet these dual crises again,” reflects Kathleen Rogers, president of Earth Day Network. “Though we may be physically apart, we’re all in this together. Individual actions, when working together for a common good, can create a mass movement of change.”

Each day’s challenge is posted on the Earth Day Network’s social media platforms at @earthdaynetwork. In turn, participants are encouraged to share news of their efforts with the hashtags #EarthDay 2020 and #EARTHRISE.

Daily actions will reflect key Earth Day themes such as: trash cleanup; dietary change to reduce individual greenhouse gas footprints; energy conservation; and looking to the power of science. Participants are urged to view digital Earth Day 2020 as an opportunity to become better informed and engaged in climate change issues and to communicate their learnings to others — from an appropriate distance. Organizers of online Earth Day events can also register them on the Earth Day Network website to reach out to prospective attendees worldwide.

“This 22-day series will allow people to connect through challenges to take action right now, and every day, for our planet,” Rogers asserts. “Because no matter where you are in the world, we are connected by a fierce and urgent determination to overcome our shared emergencies, be it coronavirus or climate change.”