It’s strange to think that a city that considers itself to be progressive has yet to put a renoviction bylaw on the books.
While communities like Waterloo and Kitchener have already enacted bylaws; Guelph City Council is still talking about it.
At the committee of the whole meeting this week, an amendment was tabled that would reject a staff report asking for more time to study the issue and expedite the creation of a new bylaw.
Renovictions occur when bad-faith landlords evict tenants on the grounds that the unit requires significant renovations, only to relist the unit with much higher rent. A bylaw would implement a series of protections for renters through legal requirements for landlords.
Along with the renoviction bylaw would be a rental replacement bylaw to prevent tenants from being left with no place to go.
The amendment was tabled by Councillor Erin Caton, calling for the creation of a framework of a renoviction bylaw and rental replacement bylaw next year, with the inclusion of $311,000 in estimated expenditures in the 2026 budget.
“We are one of the worst municipalities for rising rental costs; we need this more than any other city in Ontario,” said Caton, while addressing the committee. “I think that it’s not acceptable to wait another year to two years to get this implemented when it’s affecting people right now.”
Mayor Cam Guthrie agreed. He told the committee he wants to see a bylaw implemented “right away” and suggested simply copying what other communities have done.
Stephanie Clendenning, lawyer and executive director of the Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County, was a delegate at Tuesday’s meeting. Her organization is on the front lines, getting calls about renovictions often. She told the committee that waiting for the province to do anything is a fool’s errand.
“We need the help of municipalities, and we need it now. That’s why Toronto, Hamilton and London stepped up and said, ‘We can’t afford to wait, the time for action is now while we still have the housing stock to protect.’ That’s why Kitchener and Waterloo followed suit and why Guelph should too.”
Clendenning went on to say that taking a slow and measured approach sounds responsible, but time has run out, and the crisis is here. She said urgent action is needed.
“I’m here to sound the alarm. When it comes to bad-faith renovictions in this city, our house is on fire. We are losing our affordable housing supply at rate far faster than we can replenish it, and once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.”
The committee unanimously passed the amendment. Staff will now work on a report detailing how a renoviction bylaw could be implemented by Q1 of 2026.
That report is due to be presented to council at the end of the month.