Hamilton will debate licenses for buildings with 6 units or less - again

It was controversial. It went on for months. People filled Hamilton city council chambers and gave impassioned speeches for and against.

Now, the issue is back — a potential rental housing licensing bylaw that would see landlords with six or fewer apartments in their buildings have to get a license.

Aidan Johnson, a Ward 1 councillor, revived the subject on Thursday. The draft bylaw has sat dormant for two years, tabled in September 2013 after months of debate. 

The decision back then — beefing up existing rental unit laws and hiring four more employees to do it — hasn't solved the problem, Johnson said. Students in his west-end ward are still living in unsafe conditions, which was the purpose of the proposed bylaw to begin with.

"It's a good thing that we beefed up (enforcement)," he said, "but we need to do more." 

It isn't clear to me at all that licensing would harm tenants.- Coun. Aidan Johnson

Johnson brought up the idea at a rental housing subcommittee meeting. The city formed the committee two years ago as a result of the bylaw debate, but it hasn't met until now. City staff couldn't find three members of city council last term who were willing to sit on it, said Marty Hazell, director of parking and bylaw services.

'Unsafe, unhygienic' conditions

Johnson asked staff to report back on the idea of licensing. He also wants the city to look at similar-sized municipalities to see how they've addressed "unsafe, unhygienic rental housing conditions."

The potential bylaw was divisive in 2013. Landlords and realtors opposed it, saying it would squeeze out smaller landlords and shrink Hamilton's affordable housing market. Affordable housing advocates had the same concern. The McMaster University Students Union was in favour.

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The debate took new root on Thursday. Arun Pathak, president of the Hamilton and District Apartment Association, sits on the subcommittee. He doesn't want to go down that road again.

"We have to understand cost factors and the squeeze it could put on people," he said.

The notion of a rental licensing bylaw, and whether it would shrink the number of affordable apartments in Hamilton, is even more timely now.

'Less concerned than I was two years ago'

Since 2013, housing prices have risen even higher. Meanwhile, rents in Hamilton have increased more than anywhere else in Ontario. The local rental vacancy rate has dipped to 1.8 per cent, down from 3.2 per cent in 2012. Local charities say it's put an increasing crunch on homeless shelters.

Renee Wetselaar, an affordable housing advocate, still worries about licensing, just like she did in 2013. 

But the city is paying closer attention to affordable housing now, she said. So "I am still concerned, but I'm less concerned than I was two years ago."

Johnson said he's never seen evidence that licensing bylaws shrink the rental market. "It isn't clear to me at all that licensing would harm tenants."

The subcommittee meets again in February. Hazell will report back with detailed numbers on the enforcement team's work, including how many landlords have threatened to pull out of the market as a result.