The City is considering the creation of a Rental Housing Licensing Program and is looking for input from landlords, tenants, property owners, neighbours and community members.
“The City is providing a number of opportunities for community members to participate in conversations about rental housing”, explained Rob Reynen, manager of inspection services. “Community feedback will be considered by City Council when deciding whether Guelph will implement a licensing program for rental housing.”
The City is working to determine if, in addition to enhanced enforcement and community education, a licensing program could help address rental housing issues including tenant health and well-being.
Community members are invited to participate in two community engagement meetings.
The first meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 19, and will include a broad discussion on the potential costs and benefits of licensing rental housing and an overview of a number of preliminary alternative licensing options. The second meeting will be held on Thursday, November 21, and will allow for a more in-depth discussion of potential technical and implementation elements of Rental Housing Licensing Program options. Both meetings will take place from 6:30-9 p.m. and will be held at City Hall.
A community working group will also be established. The community working group will assist City staff in assessing the pros and cons of licensing and determining what combination of rental housing licensing components could be most effective in addressing stakeholder issues, needs and concerns.
Members of the public who are unable to attend the community engagement meetings will have an opportunity to complete an online feedback form on guelph.ca/rentalhousing.
Learn more about rental housing regulations and activities at guelph.ca/rentalhousing.