Such proposed city-mandated financial assistance would strike a reasonable balance between helping renters and encouraging the renovation of older housing stock, councillors say.听
鈥淭his would help tenants transition off their site,鈥 without significantly adding to the redevelopment project's total cost, said Coun. Luke Stack, who proposed the two tenant-assistance measures at Mondaysa国际传媒 meeting.听
There was broad support for Stacksa国际传媒 suggestion and city staff will now work to set the details of the tenant-assistance policy that will apply when buildings with five or more rental suites are being redeveloped.听
Earlier this year, the NDP government passed legislation allowing municipalities to create tenant-relocation bylaws that go above and beyond whatsa国际传媒 specified in the provincial Residential Tenancy Act.听
The upcoming policy will provide landlords and developers with guidelines on the ways in which they are expected to help tenants displaced by renovation plans. Itsa国际传媒 expected that staff, rather than city councillors, will then evaluate the relocation assistance packages before approval for the redevelopment is given.听
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want council to play judge and jury on every (tenant assistance) application,鈥 city manager Doug Gilchrist said. 鈥淚 think that would introduce a bit of political subjectivity that puts you in an awkward situation.
鈥淲e want something about as black and white as we can get, so it is applied equitably across all applicants,鈥 Gilchrist said.
Once council sets the tenant relocation policy, the programsa国际传媒 effectiveness will be evaluated after five rental buildings are redeveloped with a report brought back to council.听
Other municipalities have taken a more stringent approach than what is being contemplated by sa国际传媒. For example, some communities require developers to offer their displaced renters the right of first refusal in the new development, sometimes even at below-market rents.听
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