Item - 2024.PH11.8

The Planning and Housing Committee recommends that:

1. City Council amend Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 354, Apartment Buildings to:

a. Remove 354-3.11. COVID-19 measures;

b. Amend 354-3.2B to add that all information required to be posted on the notification board shall be posted in a manner that ensures each piece of information is completely visible to tenants;

c. Add a provision to 354-4.1 B(5) to require the owner or operator to include in their logs of all pest treatment activities, the date of a follow-up inspection, if any, and

d. Amend 354-5.1B so that the Executive Director is authorized to conduct targeted engagement visits in apartment buildings, and that the owner or operator shall pay any fees in accordance with Chapter 441, Fees and Charges.

 
2. City Council amend Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 441, Fees and Charges, Appendix C – Schedule 12, Municipal Licensing and Standards by amending the fee to read as set out in the table below:

3. City Council amend Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 441, Fees and Charges, Appendix C – Schedule 12, Municipal Licensing and Standards by adding the following fees in the table below:

4. City Council direct that amendments to Municipal Code Chapter 354, Apartment Buildings and Chapter 441, Fees and Charges take effect June 1, 2024.

5. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, in consultation with relevant City Divisions, to report to Planning and Housing Committee prior to consideration of the 2025 Budget with standard operating procedure service standards, subject to annual review, for RentSafe Municipal Standards Officers which provide targeted timelines by violation category to bring landlords into compliance with City by-laws from the date an order is issued, including guidelines for when fines and remedial actions are employed, and make the standards available to the public on the RentSafe website by the first quarter of 2025.

6. City Council reaffirm its direction from 2019 on adopting an administrative penalty system for Chapter 354, Apartment Buildings, and request the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, to report to the appropriate Committee on a framework to introduce Administrative Penalties for by-laws enforced by Municipal Licensing and Standards, including Chapter 354, Apartment Buildings, Chapter 629, Property Standards, and other relevant bylaws.

7. City Council express its support to the Premier of Ontario and the Ontario Attorney General for higher set fine penalties for offences related to Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 354, Apartment Buildings.

8. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards report to the Planning and Housing Committee prior to consideration of the 2025 budget with a review of remedial action, including an assessment of additional contracts needed to enhance RentSafeTO’s capacity to undertake remedial action.

9. City Council request the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards to review its procedures for when officers could extend time for compliance with a property standards order.

10. City Council request the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards to ensure ongoing training for RentSafe Bylaw Enforcement Officers to recognize, and appropriately refer matters outside their enforcement purview including, but not limited to, violations of the Residential Tenancies Act, Fire Code, and Building Code.

11. City Council request the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards in consultation with the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, engage as appropriate with the Renters’ Action Committee, established by MM11.34, on future updates to the RentSafeTO program.

12. City Council request the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, to report to the Planning and Housing Committee prior to consideration of the 2025 budget on the feasibility of incorporating levied fines/penalties into the RentSafeTO program’s public reporting. 

13. City Council request the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, to report to the Planning and Housing Committee prior to consideration of the 2025 budget, on the feasibility of extending the length of time orders to comply/notices of violation and emergency orders lower building scores.

14. City Council request the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, to report to the Planning and Housing Committee by the end of the third quarter of 2025, after the full implementation of the program’s redesigned evaluation tool, on:

a. the 2.5 percentile audit threshold, and whether any changes are needed; and

b. resource impacts of any potential updates to the tool.

15. City Council request the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, to report to the Planning and Housing Committee prior to the consideration of the 2025 budget process on the feasibility of allocating an adequate portion of the program budget for tenant engagement to be used for direct door-to-door engagement regarding tenant rights and responsibilities, and advice on how tenants can participate in Toronto's by-law for apartment buildings, with particular consideration for English as a second language residents, subject to the criteria Council established in LS17.1 - recommendation 42.

16. City Council request the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, to report to the Planning and Housing Committee prior to the consideration of the 2025 budget process with a review of in-unit inspections including tenant engagement measures and number of in-unit inspections completed.

Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 354, Apartment Buildings outlines maintenance and operational standards for purpose-built rental buildings with three or more storeys and ten or more rental units. These standards are enforced through the City's RentSafeTO: Apartment Building Standards program, which aims to strengthen compliance with City bylaws, enhance tenant engagement and access to information, and promote proactive maintenance in apartment buildings to prevent the deterioration of critical housing stock.

At its March 25, 2022 meeting, Planning and Housing Committee adopted 2022.PH32.4 – RentSafeTO Update Report and directed Municipal Licensing and Standards (MLS) to report back on directives pertaining to the program’s fee structure and evaluation tool design, in addition to requests made by Executive Committee (2022.EX30.2) in February 2022.

The purpose of this report is to respond to Council direction in order to:

• Provide an update on critical work completed in 2023 to enhance the RentSafeTO program.
  • This includes the redesign of the building evaluation tool to expand evaluation categories, introduce a reactive scoring scheme to reflect active violations and outstanding property standards orders, establish a new threshold for building audits and update the program’s interactive web map.
• Highlight the recently published 2023 RentSafeTO Year in Review report.
• Summarize outcomes of recent budget processes and propose additional fee changes.
  • Through the 2024 budget process, City Council approved changes to the program’s registration and inspection fees.
• Propose technical amendments to Chapter 354, Apartment Buildings to support enforcement and compliance measures.
• Respond to outstanding Council directives related to staff resources and jurisdictional research.