Kelowna city council passes renters' protection measures

Photo: Gravity Architecture

This Badke Road project is one of several where older apartments are being demolished for new developments.

Kelowna city council has given the green light to new tenant protection measures aimed at supporting renters during redevelopment projects.

But in doing so, it dropped a key recommended provision that would have seen developers able to avoid paying evicted tenants an extra two months' rent if the vacancy rate is greater than four per cent at the time of the eviction.

Councillors approved the measures in a 7-1 vote, with only Coun. Ron Cannan opposing the measures.

A previous tenant city staff-recommended relocation package presented a month ago to council was panned as being too vague, lacking structure and definitive guidelines.

Both the previous proposal and the one approved Monday by council require developers to submit a tenant protection plan, but the first proposal did not include specifics as to what that plan would have to contain.

The new version contains more specific measures, including financial considerations and a specific tenant protection plan.

Tenant protection measures will only apply to properties containing five or more rental homes and to those redevelopments resulting in tenant rental agreements being terminated.

Developers will be required to submit tenant protection plans, which will be guided by standardized terms of reference provided by the city.

Each plan will be required to include:

• Information about how the applicant’s obligations under the Residential Tenancy Act are being met.

• Information about how the applicant’s obligations under the city’s new Tenant Protection Bylaw are being met.

• Information about any voluntary, additional proposals by the applicant respecting protection and relocation of tenants during redevelopment.

Other key elements include compensation equivalent to three months' rent, four months’ notice and $1,000 to help cover a tenant’s moving expenses. Those measures align with council priorities for affordable housing and homelessness prevention.

City staff recommended developers be required to pay a tenant three months' rent to break a rental agreement—one month required under provincial law and an additional two if Kelowna's rental vacancy rate was below four per cent.

Developers could also avoid paying the extra two months if the tenant agreed to relocate to another unit that the property owner had and the new rent there was no more than 10 per cent higher than the original rent they were paying.

Coun. Luke Stack wanted the provision tying the extra two months' rent to the vacancy rate removed, saying with rents so much higher today than they were in the past, any long-time renters were “protected” by provincially controlled rent increases. They would, however, have to find new accommodation and would face much higher rents. So, he argued, anyone forced out due to a redevelopment should get three months' rent back regardless of the vacancy rate.

A vacancy rate of between three and five per cent is considered healthy for a city.

Stack’s council colleagues agreed with him they voted to remove the four per cent vacancy rate provision.

Both Stack and Coun. Loyal Wooldridge said the real issue was trying to protect the city’s stock of “old” rental housing, just as much it was about encouraging new rental housing to be built.

Under the city’s new tenant protection measures, before the issuance of a building or demolition permit, the applicant would be required to submit a compliance report detailing all steps taken to comply with the requirements. Also, the developer will be required to pay the $1,000 for moving expenses as a lump sum at least 90 days prior to the end of the tenancy.

“The proposed approach aims to balance the needs of tenants and developers in Kelowna’s rapidly evolving housing market,” said the city staff report that went to council Monday.

It added the city wants to protect long-term residents from the “negative impacts of displacement” while ensuring redevelopment projects can proceed.