Item - 2018.LS25.1

The Licensing and Standards Committee recommends that:  

1.  City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, the Medical Officer of Health, the Executive Director, Social Development, Finance and Administration, the Director, Environment and Energy, and the Chief Resilience Officer, in consultation with other appropriate divisions, to establish a working group to identify strategies to address excessive indoor temperatures in apartment buildings, including a review of the feasibility of the following, and to report back to the Tenant Issues Committee in the fourth quarter of 2019:

a.  require that all existing apartment buildings provide air conditioned units or an air conditioned cool room in the building;

b.  require that all new apartment buildings have air conditioning and add measures that enable passive cooling; and

c.  require that all apartment buildings undergo retrofits, such as new windows, heavy-duty screens, cladding and other passive and active cooling systems, and updated heating systems to mitigate the negative health impacts of heat on tenants.

2.  City Council request the provincial and federal governments expand financial incentives, including grants and low-cost loans, for owners of apartment buildings to undertake retrofits that would improve indoor temperatures and increase access to cool rooms for tenants, and to provide guidance to support this goal.

3.  City Council amend Municipal Code Chapter 497, Heating, to clarify that landlords do not need to turn the heat on between September 15 and June 1 where the unit is a minimum of 21 degrees Celsius without heating.

4.  City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, to develop and implement a plan to communicate to landlords and tenants about providing heat during the spring and fall and clarifying that landlords do not need to turn the heat on between September 15 and June 1 where the unit is a minimum of 21 degrees Celsius without heating.

5.  City Council update Municipal Code Chapter 497, Heating, to be consistent with authorities granted by the City of Toronto Act, 2006 to:

a.  increase the maximum fine amount from $5,000 to $100,000;

b.  establish special fines where it is determined that the conduct could have resulted in economic advantage or gain to the party found to have breached the By-law;

c.  create an offence for failing to comply with an order;

d.  establish that directors or officers of a corporation knowingly concurring in the contravention of any offence under the By-law by the corporation are guilty of an offence; and

e.  specify the authority of the City to enter on land to inspect to determine compliance with the By-law, a direction or order of the City, or a direction or order made under a By-law.

6.  City Council request the Provincial government to consider amending the Building Code Act and any other applicable statutes to require that all newly-built apartment buildings have air conditioning installed.

This report makes recommendations to mitigate the negative impacts of extreme heat in apartment buildings. A number of tenants living in apartment buildings experience very high temperatures in their units and only 6 percent of apartment buildings in Toronto are reported to have air conditioning. The report recommends that staff develop an interdivisional working group to identify strategies to address excessive indoor temperatures in apartment buildings. It requests that the provincial and federal governments expand financial incentives for retrofits for buildings to improve indoor temperatures for tenants. Setting a maximum indoor temperature standard for all apartment buildings in Toronto is not recommended at this time due to technical and financial barriers, as previously reported by Toronto Public Health.

This report also recommends amending Chapter 497, Heating, to clarify that landlords do not need to turn the heat on between September 15 and June 1, where the indoor temperature in the unit is already a minimum of 21 degrees Celsius, and communicating to landlords and tenants about providing heat during spring and fall. The City of Toronto requires landlords to maintain a minimum indoor temperature of 21 degrees Celsius between September 15 and June 1. While this requirement is intended to ensure that tenants are protected from being too cold, it can cause confusion and frustration when unseasonably warm weather occurs in the fall or spring between these dates, and apartment buildings have turned their heating systems on, resulting in uncomfortably high temperatures.

This report also recommends updating the Heating By-law to be consistent with enforcement authorities granted by the City of Toronto Act, 2006.

The following City divisions were consulted in the preparation of this report: Legal Services, Toronto Public Health, Social Development, Finance and Administration, Environment and Energy, The Atmospheric Fund, and the Chief Resilience Officer.