A decision from the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) last fall that will allow a Blair Road development to go ahead despite the fact it displaces tenants living in five affordable units didn’t sit well with Coun. Sheri Roberts.
Now, nearly a year after council voted against the proposal, Roberts is bringing forward a motion that asks city staff to investigate the feasibility of a rental replacement bylaw.
Such a bylaw would require developers to replace units with the same number and type of unit when they plan to convert or demolish five or more rental units.
It would also require developers to offer displaced tenants first right of refusal to return to the new units with similar rent, or provide other suitable options.
In a phone interview in advance of the notice of motion coming to council next week, Roberts explained the impetus behind the motion was the proposal to replace a fourplex and a single family home at 220 and 20 Blair Rd. with 32 stacked townhouse units for purchase.
The tenants at the existing five units had been living there for some time, she said, and therefore the rent was at a level affordable for them.
Council voted against the proposal in March 2024.
"Yes, we need to build more homes, but definitely not at the expense of affordable ones," Roberts argued at the time.
“I felt really disturbed by the notion that we were not only losing very good rental units but these folks are now going to be displaced, so it’s sort of two problems in one,” Roberts said over the phone this week.
So, she began looking to see what other cities are doing to protect their rental inventory and didn’t have to look far to find the City of Kitchener has a rental replacement bylaw that was passed just the year before.
Kitchener’s bylaw requires a rental replacement permit when a proposed development results in the demolition or conversion of six or more units.
The applicant must replace the units and provide compensation to the tenants.
“I thought why don’t we have a look at that here, see if we can replicate something similar,” she said.
The initial step, if the motion passes next month, would be directing the chief planner to investigate the feasibility of a bylaw and then bring it back as part of the 2026 budget.
Roberts didn’t want to speculate on why it might not return to council in time for next year's budget other than to suggest it could be a matter of capacity for staff to manage it.
A recent housing needs assessment report found the city needs to increase its supply of rental units.
It found between 2016 and 2021, Cambridge added 1,795 renter households while just 306 purpose-built rental units were added to the market in the same time period.
“We definitely need to start increasing our rental inventory because some folks, for many reasons, they may not want to be a homeowner,” Roberts said.
“It might not be something they’re interested in or they might not be attainable to have a large down payment … I think having a really strong rental inventory is key to having a strong community.”
This notice of motion will be introduced at Tuesday’s meeting but will be discussed at a meeting on April 15.