I am submitting comments on…

I am submitting comments on behalf of the Landlord's Self-Help Centre. We are a community legal clinic funded by Legal Aid Ontario to assist small-scale residential landlords in Ontario. We define small-scale landlords as those renting out up to 3 units located at the same property where they reside.

Reduce Parking Minimums: We support the proposal details pertaining to reducing parking minimums as this has prevented homeowners from adding rental units to the housing supply in the province. There should be other alternatives to parking such as street parking.

Enhancing Framework for Additional Residential Units (ARUs): We support the proposal details related to enhancing framework for ARUs to remove any barriers that would block their development such as prohibiting the addition of secondary units in houses that are less than five years in age and prohibiting permission for secondary units in certain types of houses such as townhouses.
There are financial barriers preventing homeowners from creating a secondary rental unit as the development charges can cost as much as $40,000, which could be a significant cost for a homeowner looking to rent out a portion of their house to help cover the mortgage costs. Municipalities should develop and implement programs that provide support for owners willing to add ARUs to the housing supply such as permitting the deferral or waiving of development charges or fees.
Further, municipalities should create and implement programs that support homeowners by offering funding, grants, forgivable loans, and low-interest loans that will help the owner reduce the cost of creating ARUs. Incentives such as these will encourage small landlords in creating and operating ARUs and will encourage more homeowners to pursue the opportunity of rental housing development.