Toronto’s proposed renovictions bylaw is one step closer to passing after it was unanimously approved with amendments by the planning and housing committee on June 13th. Chaired by City Councillor Paula Fletcher, the bylaw has been in development for over five years and follows a similar framework to Hamilton’s, which is now in effect. If passed, the bylaw would require that all Toronto-area landlords show proof that their proposed renovations necessitate the eviction of tenants; once approved, they would then need to get building permits directly from the city to proceed.

Toronto began developing the bylaw in 2019 when it created the Subcommittee on the Protection of Affordable Rental Housing to address the growing concern.

According to RenovictionsTO, a volunteer-run project tracking the rise in wrongfully evicted tenants, a renoviction is when a landlord evicts a tenant on the grounds that a major renovation will occur. “Landlords may give tenants N13 notices or approach them informally, and will often mislead tenants and pressure them to move out,” the group asserts.

As Fletcher told reporters  on Thursday, “People are renovicted out of their apartments and their rent goes up two to three times. It’s very difficult for that tenant to find another place to live. Also, that means an affordable housing unit has been taken out of the system. It would be impossible and it has been impossible for the city to build affordable housing as fast as tenants are being renovicted from affordable housing.”