Why Toronto City Council Should Legalize Rooming Houses
On Friday, Toronto City Council will vote again on a proposal to legalize and create a licensing program for rooming houses Toronto-wide.
The vote comes at a time when the cost of rent in Toronto is rising as the city recovers from the pandemic and those unable to afford the cost of rent have moved into encampment sites in city parks.
Rooming houses — also called multi-tenant or dwelling houses — operate all over the city. They are legal and licensed in the boundaries of pre-amalgamation Toronto, but there are also many that operate illegally in the areas of Toronto where they are banned.
Rooming houses are a crucial component of the housing stock in the city and have provided affordable housing options to people who are unable to pay the cost of rent in the private market. For diverse communities, including students, seniors, marginalized groups, newly arrived immigrants, and low/moderate-income residents, rooming houses have offered a relatively attainable housing option in Toronto for more than a century.
According to City Staff, the average rooming house rent ranges between $400 and $700 per month, compared to average studio apartment rents of about $1,100. For those in the city who are homeless and qualify for income support programs like Ontario Works (OW) or Ontario Disability and Support Program (ODSP), rooming houses are the only relatively affordable option they have for living in Toronto.
Legalizing and permitting the construction of rooming houses city-wide would contribute to expanding Toronto’s affordable housing stock that is often home to the city’s most vulnerable residents.
According to Maytree, there are approximately 350 licensed rooming houses operating in neighbourhoods where they are legally permitted under the zoning by-laws, but even the city does not know how many illegal rooming houses there are across Toronto.
Rooming houses being outlawed in parts of the city where they are known to exist drives landlords and their tenants into an illegal market that can put tenants’ safety at risk.
Tenants living in illegal rooming houses may be subject to overcrowding, lack of amenities, lack of privacy, mould, pests, and overbearing landlords.
The illegal market limits the ability of tenants to seek recourse as they are often put in a position where they have to protect the very landlords who may be putting them at risk, because if a tenant raises a complaint then they may risk losing their only affordable housing option altogether.
The safety risks disproportionately affect racialized and other marginalized groups who are overrepresented among people living in rooming houses.
Effective regulation of the rooming house sector that ensures tenants are safe and their rights are being protected is an important step toward improving the health and safety of rooming house tenants and would help bring the City into compliance with the right to non-discrimination in housing.
Politicians and media can often stigmatize rooming houses and their tenants by portraying them as dilapidated and unsafe structures that threaten the safety of the surrounding community.
These inaccurate stereotypes are drawn from preconceived prejudices towards the marginalized communities that often live in rooming houses, but have proven to be impactful.
Homeowners and municipal councillors often reject or impose restrictions on the operation of rooming houses because they do not want an influx of low-income residents into their neighbourhoods, as it may have a negative impact on property values.
However, the concerns of wealthy homeowners should not be prioritized over the needs of the city’s most vulnerable residents, especially during an acute shortage of affordable housing.
Updating Toronto’s fragmented zoning by-laws and regulations to ensure that all rooming houses are legal and licensed city-wide will not end the housing crisis, but it is a long-overdue step that will expand the stock of affordable housing.
