HALIFAX—Councillors will move ahead with a proposed registry of rental units in Halifax, even after a group representing landlords in Nova Scotia asked them to hit pause on the plan.

At its meeting on Tuesday, council passed an amended version of a motion that recommends changes to Bylaw M-200, which governs standards for residential properties in Halifax, to “include provisions for mandatory registration of residential rental accommodations.” The city would also release information about investigations into violations of the bylaw on the municipal open-data site. The motion directs staff to draft the necessary bylaw amendments.

Just days before the staff report on Halifax’s rental registry was released, the Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia (IPOANS) announced it was working on its own voluntary certification program for landlords. IPOANS emailed councillors Monday calling on them to defer a vote on the city plan pending more information.

The group is concerned that municipal staff ignored stakeholder feedback and that the financial implications aren’t properly fleshed out. The costs are currently unclear, with the report to council only noting the potential need to hire two assistant building officials at a cost of $147,000 annually.

“We, at IPOANS, would very much like to be involved in any discussions relating to a mandatory landlord registry because there are potentially huge implications relating to 1) program costs, 2) program effectiveness and 3) housing affordability that the report simply does not address,” the letter concludes.

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Councillor Waye Mason put forward an amendment to have staff address those concerns in the next report to council.

“Councillors should have those answers to the questions IPOANS raised in front of them when we’re debating the bylaw, but I don’t want to stop and ask for a supplementary report and then debate whether or not we’re going to go ahead,” Mason said.

“I believe this council has been quite clear that we want to do something along these lines at some point.”

Councillor Matt Whitman didn’t support the amendment or the main motion, arguing that the plan would be costly and unnecessary.

“It feels like a duplication of something that already exists,” Whitman said.

“I’ve heard from business groups. I’ve talked to the (the Canadian Federation of Independent Business) and others who say that this seems heavily bureaucratic and red-tape heavy.”

Whitman suggested Halifax should just enforce existing rules and crack down on properties it knows are problematic based on complaints.

Matt Covey, division chief of fire prevention at Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency and one of the authors of the report before council on Tuesday, said there is no complete list of rental units in the municipality. And he said relying on complaints doesn’t work because many people don’t know about the contents of the municipal bylaw or are afraid of repercussions if they complain.

“They’re suffering in silence or they’re suffering in fear,” Covey said.

Councillor Sam Austin supported the motion, noting that it would also allow for third-party complaints. Tenants worried about repercussions could have a person or advocacy group complain on their behalf.

“We should not be allowing affordable housing in this city to be substandard housing,” Austin said.

“You shouldn’t have to trade affordability for basic human dignity.”

The proposed amendments stem from a council request for a staff report in 2013 about licensing landlords.

The motion asked staff to consider programs like the one in London, Ont., implemented in 2011, which was designed to “address substandard housing conditions in rental units and Airbnbs to protect the amenity, character, and stability of residential areas.”

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In June 2016, Halifax regional council directed staff to consult with stakeholders on that program, and a contractor, Stantec Consulting Ltd., completed the work in May 2017.

“Licensing was unanimously not recommended by the workshop groups, for many reasons, but mainly due to associated costs,” the report says. “While not in favour of licensing, several points and concerns made by stakeholders would fit into a lower cost option, which is registration combined with amendments to Bylaw M-200 to improve enforcement and target it toward problem buildings.”

Bylaw amendments to enable the proposed registry will come back to regional council for first and second reading before any new program goes ahead.

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