Councillors voted Wednesday to ask Queen’s Park to change legislation to give Toronto Community Housing the discretion to ban a tenant who has been evicted for committing serious crimes.

Currently, social housing providers in Ontario can successfully evict tenants for criminal activity but must accommodate them if they re-apply for a subsidized housing unit.

Not only that, despite the long-waiting list for TCH’s 55,000 units, someone kicked out for drug dealing or violence could be considered “disadvantaged” and therefore move to the top of the list.

Mayor John Tory, who put the request on his executive committee agenda last week, said council’s move is “a good, solid start.” The mayor’s housing task force recommended the change in its interim report released in 2015.

The status quo is a “failing of the law” and refusal to do anything about it “an abdication of our responsibility.”

“Right now we have no discretion but to say ‘sure come on back,’” Tory told council. “It’s time to change the law not to punish those people. It’s time to change the law to protect all the other people who live in those buildings.”

Despite sending a strong signal with a unanimous vote, Queen’s Park has shown little appetite to change the law.

“We would not be supportive of such a measure,” a spokeswoman for Ontario’s housing ministry wrote in an email earlier this week.

Ontario has a long-standing commitment to tackle homelessness and end chronic homelessness by 2025, and that is “only possible if everyone continues to have access to the supports they need,” her email said.

During Wednesday’s debate at city hall, some councillors raised the issue of where evicted criminals will live if they’re kicked out permanently.

“What are we going to do to ensure we’re not pushing the problem elsewhere,” Councillor Janet Davis said.

Councillor Pam McConnell suggested some of the exiled drug dealers would retreat to the condos they own.

Mark Johnson, TCH’s general counsel, told council his legal team works hard to evict tenants for cause and criminal activity but “we wish the laws were a little different but they are what they are at the moment.”

Since 2015 until the end of winter this year, TCH has commenced 260 evictions for criminal behavior, he said.

Council also voted to ask city staff to study and recommend other safety measures for TCH properties so council can give clearer direction to the province on what it hopes to achieve.

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Staff will report to executive committee in June.

With files from Robert Benzie