Our Platform

Everyone needs a home they can afford.

The one common reason for homelessness and housing precarity is a lack of safe, affordable housing.

There are solutions.

This campaign provides three key messages and six clear actions for City Council to follow and build on. Cities around the world and in Canada are using these tools and seeing incredible results.

Three Key Messages

Stop the Loss

Create More

Preserve the Quality

Six Clear Actions

1. Strengthen Tenant Protections

Stop the loss - Private Sector

Create municipal policies strengthening tenant protections against renovictions and demovictions.

As part of a larger landlord licensing requirement, these policies would strengthen enforcement of existing renoviction and demoviction bylaws.

These policies would include the following conditions:

The landlord must have received approval of all permits with the City in advance of issuing a notice to tenants of renoviction or demoviction.
The City would be responsible for providing information to tenants on their legal right to compensation.
Ensure tenants who are temporarily displaced during renovations or demolitions are re-housed at the same rate of rent, similar to the Toronto Demolition Control Bylaw.

2. Create an Acquisition Strategy

Stop the loss - Public Sector

Create a non-profit housing acquisition strategy, supported by City purchases of private market residential properties, for the purpose of turning them over to non-profit housing providers.

This would help to stop the loss of aging housing stock being sold and converted to higher priced housing. By reserving this housing for non-profits, it gives non-profit housing providers the time and ability to quickly acquire rental housing.

Example: Montréal’s pre-emptive right (and in line with Gatineau’s intentions) to purchase residential buildings first, before being on the private market.

3. Develop An Inclusionary Zoning Policy

Create more - Private Sector

Develop a strong Inclusionary Zoning policy ensuring new builds have permanent affordable units, based on a household’s income.

With affordable housing defined as 30% of a household’s income, new developments will need to ensure 20% - 30% of units for affordable housing (phased in over time). A portion of the affordable units would be reserved for households that make below $24,000/ year.

4. Increase the Municipal Budget

Create more - Public Sector

Increase the municipal budget to house 1,000 households each year, committing 30% as part of a For Indigenous, By Indigenous Housing Strategy.

This increase would double the City’s current commitment to house 500 households through rent subsidies and creation of non-profit units. This would reduce homelessness and the social housing registry waitlist by 50% by 2030.

5. License Landlords

Preserve the quality - Private Sector

Require landlords in Ottawa to be licensed for more effective oversight of property maintenance and provide funding, where needed, for small landlords to do maintenance repairs rather than sell their rental units.

This policy would require landlords to register with the City, holding rental properties to higher maintenance standards and better equipping the City to enforce those standards.

6. Assign a Housing Ombudsperson

Preserve the quality - Public Sector

Assign an independent Housing Ombudsperson to implement the right to housing in line with the federal commitment to housing as a human right.

The Ombudsperson’s work would include:

Monitor progress in meeting timelines and targets of the 10 Year Plan.
Review submissions of violations of the right to housing.
Give City Council recommendations to fulfill its human rights obligations.