New Oakville by-laws strengthen rental housing supply, protect tenants

The Town of Oakville has approved two new by-laws to strengthen the town’s rental housing supply while protecting tenants.

The town approved the Rental Housing Protection By-law and Demolition Control By-law at a meeting earlier this week

As more and more residents move to the area and facilitate an “attractive” housing market, the by-laws help preserve the existing supply of rental housing stock while strengthening tenant protection.

“Our focus continues to be on developing complete and inclusive communities with easy access to a variety of housing, transit, community infrastructure, including protection for tenants and our rental housing supply,” said Oakville Mayor Rob Burton.
“By introducing this bylaw for rental building conversions, we aim to sustain the supply of rental housing while also protecting tenants.”

A developer will now require a Section 99 .1 Permit from the town when making a proposal to demolish or convert a building containing six or more residential housing units.

In order to get the permit, the developer needs to fulfil a number of conditions related to the protection of the existing rental housing supply for periods of time and the protection of existing tenants affected.

More details are available in the online report here.