Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Poverty Task Force

RentSafe Update: From Local Research to Stronger Rental Housing Standards in Owen Sound

On July 27th, Owen Sound City Council approved a new Vital Services By-law and updates to the Property Standards By-law addressing mould and pests.

For those involved with RentSafe Owen Sound, this is an important milestone in work underway for several years to better understand rental housing conditions and find collaborative solutions that support healthy, safe and affordable housing.

The Vital Services By-law establishes clearer responsibilities for landlords to ensure tenants have essential services, including heat, hot and cold water, electricity, gas and, where required under a lease, air conditioning. It also gives the City tools to investigate complaints and to take action when the loss of a vital service creates a health or safety concern.

From Research to Action

In November 2024, the RentSafe Owen Sound Collaborative presented its Landlord & Tenant Survey Findings and recommendations to the City of Owen Sound’s Corporate Services Committee.

The surveys provided an important opportunity to hear from both sides of the rental housing relationship. 545 tenants responded to the tenant survey, representing an estimated 28% of rental units in Owen Sound. The landlord survey included 36 landlords/property managers responsible for nearly 800 units, estimated at approximately 40% of the local rental market.

What we heard demonstrated that housing quality is a shared concern.

RentSafe tenant survey respondents identified significant concerns with temperature, pests, water leaks, mould and indoor air quality.

Among tenant respondents, 73% reported pests/insects other than bedbugs, 71% reported their unit being too hot or too cold, 62% reported water leaks and 47% reported mould. Sixty percent reported anxiety related to the physical condition of their unit.

Landlords also identified challenges maintaining rental properties, including finding contractors, gaining access to units for repairs, maintenance costs and communication with tenants.

Importantly, tenants and landlords identified many of the same housing quality concerns, including temperature control, windows, plumbing and water leaks, pests and bedbugs, and mould. Read the full report here.

We Are All Neighbours

One of the strongest messages from the research was that tenants can feel trapped while landlords can feel stuck.

For tenants, rising rents and limited housing options can make it difficult to leave unhealthy housing. For landlords, maintaining Owen Sound’s older rental housing stock can involve significant costs and challenges.

This is why RentSafe’s work focuses on bringing people together rather than placing responsibility for our housing challenges on one group.

RentSafe seeks solutions that recognize the experiences of tenants and landlords while protecting Owen Sound’s existing affordable rental housing.

What Did RentSafe Recommend?

In 2024, RentSafe presented 3 immediate recommendations to the City.

1. Better rental housing data. We recommended collecting information on habitability issues identified through by-law and fire inspections—including mould, pests, water leaks and broken windows—to better understand conditions in Owen Sound’s older rental housing stock.

2. Clearer standards for mould. We recommended incorporating Ontario’s model mould by-law language into Owen Sound’s Property Standards By-law. The City’s new updates addressing mould and pests represent important progress on an issue identified through the RentSafe research.

3. Support landlords and tenants. We invited the City to be part of solutions that help landlords maintain healthy rental properties while improving effective landlord-tenant relationships. During a housing crisis, we need new affordable housing—but we also need to protect and improve the affordable rental housing we already have.

The Next Question: Extreme Heat

During Council’s July 27th discussion, the question of a “right to cooling” and maximum indoor temperatures was raised. This connects directly with the RentSafe findings: 71% of tenant respondents reported their unit being too hot or too cold.

Under Owen Sound’s new Vital Services By-law, landlords must provide a minimum temperature of 20°C from September 15th to May 31st. Under Section 11-C of the prepared by-law a maximum indoor temperature of 26C is in place, if the lease indicates an air-conditioner and landlords are required to ensure suitable cool air in a unit. Bylaw can charge the landlord if they don’t repair an existing air conditioner and/or if they remove it. 

There is a new provision in the Residential Tenancy Act effective July 1st, 2026, regarding air conditioning, maintenance and repairs as well as utility charges.  Tenants are permitted to install a window or portable air conditioner, even where a lease prohibits it, as long as it meets the prescribed conditions and notifies the landlord in writing.  Seasonal rent increases may be applied by landlords to cover electrical costs.

There are currently no by-laws in Ontario, that require all units to have permanent cooling systems. This would require a retrofit or renovations of buildings which would impact the availability and affordability of rental units in the City. The cities of Toronto and Hamilton are currently researching a Maximum Heat By-Law and the City of Owen Sound will monitor these initiatives.  

This opens an important next conversation for RentSafe.

Healthy Housing Is Also a Climate Issue

Extreme heat increasingly intersects with the issues RentSafe has been working on for years: housing quality, affordability, health and equity.

Older rental buildings can be particularly challenging. Aging windows, inadequate ventilation and limited cooling can increase exposure to extreme temperatures. At the same time, major retrofits can be expensive.

The challenge is finding solutions that improve tenant health and climate resilience without contributing to displacement or the loss of affordable rental housing.

The 2024 RentSafe Owen Sound work identified three interconnected challenges: unit quality concerns, lack of trust and communication, and lack of satisfaction with the rental housing system. It also pointed toward longer-term opportunities, including proactive inspections, stronger community involvement and measures to preserve affordable rental housing.

The adoption of stronger mould, pest and Vital Services standards demonstrates how local research, community collaboration and municipal leadership can translate into action.

As we build on this work, our next question is:

What does healthy, safe, affordable and climate-resilient rental housing look like for Owen Sound?

The Poverty Task Force and our RentSafe partners will continue working with tenants, landlords, the City and community partners to explore this question. Together with RentSafe Ontario we will come together next on September 29th to discuss climate resiliency and rental housing.

Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Poverty Task Force

Poverty Task Force/United Way Community Update # 119

Dear Colleagues, 

Last week our Income & Employment Security Action Group heard from Natasha Pei/Tamarack Institute and Misty Schonauer/United Way BG about the Business Reducing Poverty Project.

The project is a multi-sector collaboration – TD Bank, non-profits (Prosper Canada, Momentum, etc.) and people with lived experience – with the aim to increase bankability. A human first and co-design approach has been taken. Read more about the co-design approach at Liberatory Design or human-centered design at IDEO Human Centered Design Toolkit 2nd Ed.pdf (hubspot.net)

This approach puts people with low income in charge of defining and diagnosing their own unique, multidimensional poverty—who by owning the problem, own the solution.  Who owns poverty? (povertystoplight.org) The project has come up with 6 personas and scenarios to create protypes and has come up with 70 ideas in its first year. The next 2 years of the project will unpack those ideas and check in with people with lived experience. Watch the Tamarack webinar – Tamarack Institute Webinar: Businesses Reducing Poverty (2023) – YouTube

We have seen an increase in hate activity in our communities during and after Pride Month. A new grant provides funding for physical security but we still need to do more to address the action.  

INCOME SUPPORT

  • ODSP: was increased by 6.5% on July 1, 2023. The basic ODSP rate for a single person with the maximum shelter allowance is now $1,308 a month. This is up from $1,228. The 6.5% raise applies only to the core amounts like: basic needs for singles and families, shelter maximums for singles and families, board and lodge amounts for singles and families the maximum amount provided for a couple where both have disabilities.
    • The 6.5% increase does not apply to several other benefits that ODSP recipients often get. This includes the Remote Communities Allowance, Special Diet Allowance, and the Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Nutritional Allowance. ODSP rates are now indexed to the annual inflation rate. If there’s no change to inflation or if inflation rates go down, ODSP rates stay the same. Inflation is calculated using the Consumer Price Index for Ontario, which measures how much the cost of things like food and housing have gone up or down.
  • There are no increases to Ontario Works (OW). If people have questions about their OW benefits, they should contact their caseworker. If they’re having problems getting benefits, they can contact their local community legal clinic.
  • Licence Plate Stickers: Service Ontario no longer issue licence plate stickers for passenger vehicles, light-duty trucks, motorcycles and mopeds. However, you must continue to renew your licence plate every 1 to 2 years, usually before your birthday. Eliminating renewal fees saves vehicle owners $120 a year in Southern Ontario. Get a refund or credit for your licence plate sticker or driver’s licence | ontario.ca
  • The Auditor General reported in 2022 that pandemic supports for individuals and businesses totalled $211 billion. While $4.6 billion went to ineligible individuals, more than $15 billion went to businesses whose revenue ultimately didn’t decline enough to qualify for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. 1,046 individuals have filed court challenges over pandemic benefits, including cases that have been closed and those still pending. CRA loses sometimes in court over COVID-19 relief | CTV News  
  • United Way Backpack Program:  registration for school backpacks is open. To apply, call 2-1-from June 14th through to August 25th. Outside of these dates, call the United Way of Bruce Grey office at 519-376-1560. Backpack Program – United Way of Bruce Grey
  • The United Way has assembled more than 32,800 backpacks over the past 18 years and saved families more than $2.25 million in school supply expenses. Annual backpack program shifting into high gear in Grey-Bruce | Owen Sound Sun Times

HOUSING SUPPORT

  Stay well, Jill 

Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Poverty Task Force

Bringing an Equity Lens to Climate Change

Dear Colleagues,

Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection.

Climate change poses the greatest threat and risk to those that have been the least responsible – generally people that face deep-rooted and systemic challenges like poverty. Populations that are more privileged and have more resources subsequently have much stronger capacity to protect themselves from the impacts of climate change. (Retooling for Climate Change) 

The issues of poverty and climate cannot be separated. Climate justice and climate equity are essential approaches. (Tamarack Webinar: Climate Change and Poverty)

What is climate justice? 

The City of Vancouver in its Green Vancouver Plan defines climate justice as an approach that applies a social justice framework to the ways we understand and respond to climate change. The approach seeks to equitably distribute the cost and benefits related to adaptation and mitigation measures by centering the well-being and wisdom of those most impacted by climate change.  

Without climate justice, tackling the climate crisis can only address symptoms, not root causes. Without a social justice perspective, climate policies risk exacerbating the already unacceptable gap between rich and poor.

  • High-income families are responsible for a disproportionate share of the emissions that lead to climate change;
  • Low-income families can’t afford electric cars, retro-fitting homes or other measures that are usually proposed to reduce emissions;
  • Low-income residents risk being adversely affected by the carbon tax, higher electricity bills and other pricing measures than wealthier citizens. 

What are we doing? 

Sustainable practices that benefit people with low income include better relationships with the land, reducing food waste and improving food systems; advocating for more public transportation. 

  • Giiwe Sharing Circles are grounded in our relationship to the land and partners are learning Indigenous approaches to building relationships and co-designing solutions to poverty-related issues such as homelessness.

When food gets wasted, we’re also wasting all of the land, water, energy and other resources that went into producing it, impacting biodiversity and polluting our environment. Nearly 60% of food produced in Canada is lost or wasted each year according to Second Harvest. A third of that waste is still edible, yet it goes to landfills instead of to those who could use it.

  • Grey Bruce food rescue program: When food ends up in a landfill, it creates methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Food rescue programs increase quality fresh food at community meal programs and food banks; and diverts food waste. (Second Harvest: Food Rescue)
    • 108 tonnes of food was diverted to by 32 community food programs in 2022. (Source:Food Bruce Grey) 
    • OSHaRE on average rescues 11 tonnes of food/month and 25 local agencies further benefit to share out food.  (Source: Grey Bruce Food Share) 
    • More than 17 grocery stores, drug stores and restaurants across Grey Bruce are participating in Grey Bruce Food Rescue. 
  • Grey Bruce Community Garden Network: 
    • 10 tonnes of fresh produce was donated from local food producers to community food programs. (Source:Food Bruce Grey) 
    • 4 tonnes of fresh produce was donated from community gardens to community food programs. (Source:Food Bruce Grey) 
  • Public transportation benefits all people as well as reduces and we have advocated for more public transportation connecting people to school, employment and grocery stores. The Grey County Climate Change Plan proposes the transition to Low-Carbon Transportation Modes Strategy, an increased rural bus system.  

Key outcomes announced in 2022 from COP15 UN Biodiversity Conference and the signing of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework gives us hope that world leaders are taking action.

The David Suzuki Foundation has pulled together resources for deepening our conversations on climate change and we need to ensure that we collectively take a climate justice and equity approach. 

Stay well, Jill 

Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Poverty Task Force

Poverty Task Force/United Way Community Update # 112

Dear Colleagues, 

We wish you all a peaceful holiday season.  We acknowledge all the hard work each and everyone one of you does to support and uplift our communities.  We recognize that many organizations’ staff and community volunteers will continue to work throughout the holidays. Thank you! 

Yesterday’s winter Solstice celebration reminds us to honor the changes of the season and our connection to nature. Key outcomes announced this week from COP15 UN Biodiversity Conference and the signing of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework gives us hope that world leaders are taking action.

“We have become the impatient species, too busy to let nature replenish itself and too puffed up with our own sense of importance to acknowledge our utter dependency on its generosity.” – David Suzuki

The Framework recognizes that without a social justice perspective, climate policies risk exacerbating the already unacceptable gap between rich and poor:

  • High-income families are responsible for a disproportionate share of the emissions that lead to climate change;
  • Low-income families can’t afford electric cars, retro-fitting homes or other measures that are usually proposed to reduce emissions;
  • Low-income residents risk being adversely affected by the carbon tax, higher electricity bills and other pricing measures than wealthier citizens. 

Climate change is influencing our community wellbeing, creating greater risks to both physical and mental health. Read more about local action: 

SAFE SPACES

Creating safe spaces that allow us to recharge in the winter is a luxury. For many, these safe spaces don’t exist but collective efforts are happening to carry out wellness checks, provide support and services. We have a mental health & addiction crisis fueling a homelessness crisis. 

  • Grey Bruce Coordinated Access: reported that in November 2022 there were 198 households active on the By Names List (BNL), with 156 of these households identified as experiencing chronic homelessness.
    • Bruce County (40 HHs) actively homeless and Grey County (158 HHS) at the time of their referral. 
    • The average number of months experiencing homelessness for households on the BNL is 9. 
    • The average acuity (scale from 1-10) is a 4.5. This would indicate that those experiencing homelessness are from vulnerable demographics and/or experiencing tri-morbidity and/or sleeping rough.
  • Short Term Shelter Program: will be operating through the holidays. Call 211 for anyone experiencing 211 to access emergency housing support in Grey County and Bruce County.  Coordination with hospital discharges and shelter have been anticipated and negotiated to ensure people will be housed. 
  • Despite any bans against accessing services, everyone will be offered a room until January 4th. Outreach workers will be working through the holidays to check on people in motel shelters.  

WARMING STATIONS

Lower tier municipalities, cities and towns will respond with plans under an Extreme Weather Warning.  Warming Stations are listed on 211. 

However, this year we may experience extreme weather on the holiday weekend when most of the organizations are closed on Dec 25th.

Safe Spaces

To know who is open/closed during the holidays for support please call 211. Please update your Holiday schedules with 211 online or by emailing John Meakin,  jmeakin@communityconnection.ca.

  • Safe N Sound: extended hours are in place M-F 9am-3pm. 5pm-10pm and Sat 10am-10pm, Sun 12pm – 10pm but will be closed Dec 25th and 26th. 
  • M’Wikwedong IFC Housing: staff will be on call through the holidays for emergency housing support.
    • M’Wikwedong IFC: 2 Spirit Youth drop-in, Tuesdays, 3:30-5:30. 
    • M’Wikwedong IFC: adult drop-in, Mondays, 5-8pm, starting in January 2023.
  • South East Grey CHC: shall be closed Dec 23rd to Dec 27th Markdale office, Dec 23rd to Dec 30th at Dundalk location. 
  • If you are a woman experiencing gender-based violence, and need immediate assistance, call 911. 
  • St. Georgen’s Anglican Church: – Open each Thursday (except December 29).  3 to 4:00 p.m. in the Hall – a safe and inclusive space.

FOOD SUPPORT 

Many food hampers, gift cards and toys have been distributed by organizations across Grey Bruce. Many of them required early registration. An incredible outpouring of Christmas cheer meant that many families have support for the holidays. Big and small efforts are always appreciated. 

211 has the full list of Christmas hampers and meals. 

  • The Salvation Army Owen Sound: provides $40,000 worth of groceries to local families every month. ⁣⁣⁣In 2022, they served 800 individuals/month (an increase from 600 individuals in 2021).   
  • St. Aidan’s Grey/Bruce: provided over 10,000 frozen meals for programs across Grey Bruce in 2022. 
  • Owen Sound: takeaway meals served at noon at OSHARE, 946 3rd Ave East. Please call 519-371-0957 for more information. Closed on January 1st.  Safe N Sound is hosting a Christmas Dinner for participants on Friday December 23rd at 5:30pm  Closed Dec 25th and 26th. 
  • Hanover: Grace United Church, 310 12th Street. Doors open at 11:30am and dinner will be served at 12:00pm. Please let Faye know you’re coming. 519-377-9774.
  • Wiarton: For residents of the townships of South Bruce Peninsula, a dinner will be available either as sit-down or take-away on December 21st at The Salvation Army Wiarton Community Church. Delivery available. Sit-in: 1 pm & take out: 2:30 pm. Call 519-534-0353. 576 Edward Street. 
  • Saugeen Shores: on December 24th, dinner will be delivered and is heat-and-serve in Saugeen Shores and Saugeen First Nation. Register by Dec 20, 2022. Delivery: Dec 24, 2022, 3 pm-5 pm. To order your delivery, contact Chuck or Linda at: 519-832-6003 or SSChristmasdinner@gmail.com. 
  • Grey Highlands: Registration up to Dec 19, 2022. Pickup: Dec 23, 2022 12:30 pm-2 pm. Gentle Shepherd Community Church (Eugenia Campus; 426176 Concession 8). Call Mary at 519-924-3832 to register. 
  • Kincardine: Register by Tue Dec 20, 2022. Call 519-396-2001. Doors open at 12:30 pm Christmas Day with the meal starting at 1 pm. St Anthony’s of Padus Catholic Church (749 Russell St). 
  • Durham: on Christmas day, doors open at 1 pm and dinner is served at 3 pm. Durham Community Centre, 451 Saddler St W. 

TRANSPORTATION 

  • GOST: due to the potential weather moving into the area, the GOST afternoon departure at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, December 23, 2022, is cancelled.
  • Owen Sound Transit: will continue to operate on the regular schedule. When a change to scheduled service is required, customer alerts are posted on the City’s website as soon as possible. For the most up-to-date information, people can check owensound.ca/transit or call Voyago directly at 519-465-0783

Mental Health Supports

  • The Métis Nation of Ontario is offering a 24HR Mental Health and Addictions (MHA) 24/7 Crisis Line for anyone discharged from hospital, 1-877-767-7572.

Consider how you or your organization can create slower lanes this holiday!  

Stay well, Jill