Memo: Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act, 2020 - March 12, 2020

Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Community Housing Policy Branch
777 Bay St., 14th Floor
Toronto ON M7A 2J3


Ministère des Affaires municipales et du Logement
Direction des politiques de logement communautaire
777, rue Bay, 14e étage
Toronto ON M7A 2J3

March 12, 2020
 

MEMORANDUM

TO: All Service Manager Housing Directors

FROM: Peter Kiatipis, Director, Community Housing Policy

RE: Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act, 2020

Hello,

Earlier today, the government introduced the Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act, 2020.

The Bill proposes amendments to the Housing Services Act, 2011 and Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 to deliver on commitments under the government’s Community Housing Renewal Strategy and Housing Supply Action Plan. It also proposes amendments to the Building Code Act, 1992 to improve building code services to the public and building sector, and proposes the Ontario Mortgage and Housing Corporation Repeal Act, 2020.

The proposed amendments to the Housing Services Act, 2011 are part of the second stage of the government’s Community Housing Renewal Strategy – a multi-year strategy to stabilize and grow Ontario’s community housing sector.

The proposed amendments are intended to:

  • Provide a streamlined legislative framework for community housing that will incent non­profit and co-operative housing providers to stay in the housing system once their original agreements and mortgages end; and
  • Make it easier for Service Managers and housing providers to meet the housing needs of their communities, while enabling opportunities for long-term sustainability and new community housing development.

The proposed legislative changes are intended to be broad and enabling. If passed by the Legislature, specific details would need to be developed in regulation. The government is committed to working with sector partners to develop the details in regulation on how the new legislative provisions would work on the ground in communities. The province intends to move quickly, working with sector partners, to develop regulations so that rules can be in place before the majority of original agreements start to end in 2022-23.

I invite you to join us for a web-based presentation via Adobe Connect, which will provide a technical overview of the proposed amendments to the Housing Services Act, 2011. The presentation will take place tomorrow, on Friday, March 13, 2020 at 12:00 p.m., and on Monday, March 16, 2020 at 1:00 p.m.

To RSVP for one of these sessions, please send an email to Margaret Wongsiktsang at Margaret.Wongsiktsang@ontario.ca and indicate the session you prefer to attend. Please see the attached instructions for using Adobe Connect.

Due to limited space in the Adobe Connect sessions, we ask that organizations participate as a group and limit the number of connections to one for each organization.

A copy of the Bill will be available on the Ontario Legislature website typically within 24 hours of introduction. Here are links to the news release and backgrounder for the proposed Bill.

Thank you for your support and input to date on our work to stabilize and grow the community housing sector. We look forward to continuing to work with you in the months ahead.

Sincerely, 
Peter Kiatipis

Enclosure:

Adobe Connect instructions

Letter to Heads of Council and Chairs of District Social Services Administration Boards

(English and French)