RentSafe Brings Owen Sound Rental Housing Data & Proposed Solutions to the City's Table
RentSafe Owen Sound Collaborative shared the key findings and recommendations from its Landlord-Tenant Survey at the City of Owen Sound's last Corporate Services Committee meeting.
The RentSafe Owen Sound Collaborative delivered a well-received deputation to the City of Owen Sound’s Corporate Services Committee on November 14, highlighting key findings from its Landlord-Tenant Survey.
The presentation, which featured data from both landlords and tenants, was delivered by:
Jill Umbach of the Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force/United Way of Bruce Grey
Seana Moorhead, director of the Grey Bruce Community Legal Clinic
Erica Phipps, Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment
The RentSafe Owen Sound survey aimed to better understand rental housing conditions and the challenges faced by both tenants and landlords, to spur community dialogue and identify solutions. The group’s presentation sparked constructive discussion and received unanimous support from committee members.
Deputy Mayor Scott Greig and others expressed gratitude for the valuable insights provided, highlighting how the data brings critical housing issues into focus and informs effective decision-making. The survey data is both powerful and indispensable, offering a comprehensive view of the challenges and needs within Owen Sound's rental housing market.
Landlord survey: Challenges in maintenance, housing conditions, and tenant relations
The landlord survey, conducted in Fall 2021, gathered responses from 36 participants managing nearly 800 rental units—approximately 40% of Owen Sound's rental market.
During the meeting, RentSafe Owen Sound emphasized the challenges associated with the city’s aging rental housing stock, noting that 74% of surveyed buildings are over 40 years old.
The top three landlord concerns when it comes to how units are maintained are plumbing leaks (18%), broken windows (15%), and broken or non-functioning exterior door locks (14%). Other key insights included:
Maintenance Costs and Challenges: 19% of landlords reported all their units required annual repairs exceeding $1,000, while 39% noted difficulty hiring contractors, citing availability and timing as major obstacles.
Housing Conditions: Common rental unit problems include plumbing leaks (18%), broken windows (15%), exterior door lock issues (14%), and pest problems such as bedbugs (14%) and mice (13%). Severe issues like mould (3%) and water leaks (2%) were less frequent.
Tenant-Related Challenges: Damage caused by tenants or their guests affected 12-30% of units, with non-payment and tenant conflicts also widely reported. 35% of landlords faced challenges accessing units for repairs, often due to tenant refusals or lack of communication.
Additional Concerns: Between 3-18% of units experienced issues such as housekeeping problems, tenant conflicts, hoarding, or illicit activities requiring police intervention.
Preliminary findings were shared at the "Vital Signs" event in December 2022, which was followed by the tenant survey in Fall 2022.
Tenant survey: Unmet maintenance needs, high costs, and poor housing conditions
The top three tenant concerns when it comes to unit quality are pests or insects other than bedbugs (73%), units being too hot or too cold (71%), and water leaks (62%).
A whopping 87% of Owen Sound tenants reported wanting to leave their rental due to poor conditions but not being able to.
Other key findings from the tenant survey highlight significant challenges related to maintenance, housing costs, and unit conditions in Owen Sound:
Maintenance Issues: 77% of tenants requested maintenance in the past year, but only 35% saw their issues resolved. Meanwhile, 27% were still waiting for repairs, and 15% reported that their landlord had no intention of addressing their concerns.
Housing Costs: A substantial portion of tenants reported spending over 30% of their income on housing, indicating widespread affordability issues.
Housing Conditions: Common problems included pests (73%), temperature regulation issues (71%), water leaks (62%), and noise (51%). Nearly half of tenants reported issues such as drafty doors (49%), dysfunctional windows (49%), mould (47%), and poor air quality (43%). Alarmingly, 57% had left a unit in the past due to poor conditions, while others wanted to leave but were unable to.
These findings reveal systemic issues in the rental housing market, including unmet maintenance needs, high housing costs, and widespread dissatisfaction with living conditions.
Neither landlords nor tenants seem satisfied with the current situation.
41% of landlord respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement “Five years from now, I could see myself being a landlord/property manager in Owen Sound”
“The reason substandard housing exists in Owen Sound is simply the fact the City allows it to by its lack of bylaw enforcement,” one landlord submitted to the researchers.
A tenant, for their part, wanted to know, “Why do we not have a certain standard that landlords have to keep places in…should be inspections done in rentals, fire, home inspections?”
Moving forward: How do we improve Owen Sound’s housing for everyone involved?
RentSafe researchers highlighted three key actions needed to move forward in a more successful direction:
Improving the condition of rental units
Strengthening community supports
Improving trust and communication
Their recommendations emphasize improving rental housing conditions and supporting both landlords and tenants in Owen Sound:
1. Data Collection: The City should gather data on habitability issues, such as mould, pests, and water leaks, through bylaw and fire inspections to understand the challenges facing older housing stock and develop strategies for maintaining safe and healthy units.
2. Mould By-law Adoption: The City should adopt a model bylaw developed by provincial experts to address mould issues in rental housing, ensuring updated property standards and improved habitability.
3. Support for Landlords and Tenants: The City should prioritize measures to help landlords maintain rental units and foster effective tenant-landlord relationships, aiming to preserve affordable housing stock and ensure stable, healthy rental conditions amidst a growing housing crisis.
RentSafe researchers recommended that the City of Owen Sound pursue long-term systematic changes to ensure rental housing is affordable, healthy, and safe.
Suggestions include implementing proactive inspections similar to restaurant systems, improving accessibility and efficiency within the Landlord and Tenant Board, establishing a community-driven rental housing committee, and exploring renoviction bylaws to prevent bad-faith evictions and preserve affordable housing stock.
Councillor Carol Merton introduced a motion to take actionable steps based on the report's recommendations. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved, with staff directed to report back on the proposed recommendations.
The RentSafe Owen Sound Collaborative’s full report and presentation slides are available on the city’s meeting portal, with the deputation occurring from 1:45 to 32:00 in the November 14 Corporate Services Committee meeting video. Further action is expected as the city considers how best to address the identified housing challenges.
The RentSafe Owen Sound Collaborative is a partnership of local organizations and community members focused on promoting safe and healthy housing for all. It emerged from the RentSafe EquIP research project (2016–2019), which fostered cross-sector collaboration, and was formally launched at the project’s concluding event in November 2019.
The group is part of the province-wide RentSafe initiative (active since 2014) and receives support from the Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment (CPCHE).
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