A glacial pace for City Council's much anticipated Renoviction Bylaw

It's a document that was much discussed through 2021 and an oft suggested initiative that was mentioned frequently in  the years previous to that.  

But when it comes to putting the City of Prince Rupert approach to addressing Renovictions in place, the path to bylaw has been a glacial one. 

With some hints in recent times, that the end is in sight for Council to deliver on their program, but as of yet no firm announcement that the process is finished.

The Bylaw towards the Renoviction issue in question was introduced in September of 2021,  the new policy one which was supposed to see the City put in place some regulations to address the growing incidence of tenants being evicted for renovation purposes.

During the Council discussion of the proposed bylaw at the time last September, then Contract planner and now current City Manager Rob Buchan outlined some of the key elements of the proposed bylaw.

"The Community Charter enables the city to establish business regulations which discourage landlords from evicting tenants for building renovations, without making arrangements for each tenant to continue their tenancy at the same rent during and after the renovations" -- City of Prince Rupert contract Planner Rob Buchan in September 2022 outlining the main thrust of the city's proposed renoviction bylaw 

As part of his presentation of last September,  Mr. Buchan made note of recent changes to Provincial legislation designed to prevent illegal renovictions, with the planner observing how the city's bylaw would be implemented with the provincial changes in place. 

 "I would note that the province has recently amended the Residential Tenancy Act to improve protections for tenants facing possible evictions, this bylaw does not replace that but it complements that recent amendment to the act"

By the time that September City Council session had ended, Council members in most cases were fully onboard with the plan to move forward for the bylaw, speaking in support of the proposed measures but noting of the need to take care of a few details.

That it seems has taken longer to wrap up than perhaps anticipated. 

Councillor Barry Cunningham made mention of the status of the Bylaw at the first meeting of January 2022, a short mention on the night, with the City Manager advising that it would be brought forward at the January 24th session. 

"With the sort of emphasis on that Angus Apartment fire and then it came to light what a poor landlord the owner was, not reacting to concerns and that,  and the fact that he does own other property around town and that, where are we with out Renivcion bylaw and the other parts of that" -- Councillor Barry Cunningham on the status of the proposed Renoviction Bylaw -- Councillor Barry Cunningham at the January 10th Prince Rupert City Council Session

That timeline however, may have been a bit optimistic, the document had been put on the Agenda for the January 24th Council session,  but as that meeting got underway, Mayor Brain noted that it was to be removed from the Agenda, the item then duly removed from consideration though no explanation was provided on the night as to why that was required.

With a Council session that only lasted twenty six minutes, the Councillors  did have time that evening to bring up that removal and to explore why.  

But as the night wrapped up no one had chosen to bring the topic up for discussion, or to seek an update on the progress for the document.

Considering how much importance that they are placing on that initiative as part of their response to housing issues in the community, a bit more of an explanation should be provided for the public as to the delays and when they anticipate that they will move the Bylaw forward for approval and implementation.

You can review some of the elements of the September report here.

More notes on Housing in the Northwest can be explored here.

An overview of past Council Discussion themes is available through our archive here.