Despina Sourias

CDN/NDG housing inspection blitz questioned

Local Journalism Initiative / The Suburban / July 19, 2024 / Despina Sourias, nspection, racia Kasoki Katahwa, ylvia Rodriguez

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

Montreal’s housing inspection scheme was raised at CDN/NDG council this month, with resident Sylvia Rodriguez asking Loyola councillor and executive committee associate member responsible for housing and sanitation Despina Sourias about her announcement of an inspection blitz.

“Could you provide an update on the outcomes of this inspection blitz?” she wrote. “Specifically, what were the main issues identified and how has the city and borough addressed them so far?”

Borough Mayor Gracia Kasoki Katahwa responded for Sourias, who was absent from the July 2 council meeting. “Generally, the city has done preventive inspections in 28 buildings and 4,900 apartments in our borough. We noted that four of the buildings that counted 550 apartments needed further inspection that we have already done, and in one of the four inspections that we did the landlord was issued a ticket on the spot.” Other landlords were issued warnings and given 30 days to do repairs.

When problems are noted by inspectors, says Katahwa, the city contacts the owner “and we work with them to make sure that they make the corrections necessary. If they don’t, we give them fines that get more expensive if we need to go back to tell them to do the work, or to do the work on schedule.”

The borough waits 30 days after an inspection to give them the time to do the work, she adds, “except if it’s really urgent matters.”

Darlington councillor Stephanie Valenzuela asked for more details about the 28 buildings. “Can you give us a rundown of the buildings that have been inspected? In which district? And what is the plan for the next buildings that will be inspected over the next few months?” Katahwa said she could not provide that information on the spot, “so we’ll get back to you with more precise information.”

Valenzuela told The Suburban, “if we have a list of really bad buildings under terrible conditions, I want to see the list of those buildings and a plan for the next few months, especially if I’m aware of properties in my district on the list.” She also questioned when inspections began. “We have 12 borough inspectors but the city’s Service de l’habitation, which is completely different, has an entire plan dedicated to the worst buildings in the city. Hopefully I get an answer before the end of summer,” she scoffed, suggesting the lack of available information “goes to a lack of transparency that impacts my district.”

The Suburban asked the borough to clarify. As part of the city’s responsible landlord initiative, inspectors do preventive inspections across the borough without regards for district, explained borough support staffer Itai Azerrad. “The methodology is to start with the bigger buildings of 100-plus apartments and then inspect smaller ones.” The 28 properties cited were in the CDN-NDG pilot phase from January to May 2024. “These inspections allowed us to see the state of the building to either give a fine right away and/or refer it for another more in-depth inspection operation (Blitz) when certain criteria are met.” The plan moving forward, he says, is to do the same with six-plus unit properties. n

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City rolls out ‘responsible landlord’ policy

Local Journalism Initiative / The Suburban / April 27, 2024 / City of Montreal, Despina Sourias, Julien Hénault-Ratelle, Responsible Landlord project

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

The City of Montreal has unveiled its Responsible Landlord project to improve living conditions of tenants and reduce unsanitary conditions of the city’s rental stock.

The central element is to intensify preventive and targeted inspections, meaning a specific number of multi-tenant buildings will be proactively inspected each year to detect health issues. A pilot phase this spring targets nearly 90 buildings of 100 housing units, approximately 15,000 homes. Once completed, buildings with six or more dwellings will be inspected. Prioritized buildings will be those which have not been built or renovated recently and located in socio-economically vulnerable sectors or that have numerous complaints.

To encourage as many tenants as possible to file complaints, the city says it will also improve communications with the population by distributing leaflets and resource cards during inspections, which will be carried out in the presence of community liaison officers (ALIS).

The boroughs mainly have the responsibility for health and sanitation inspections, says Loyola councillor Despina Sourias, associate executive committee member for housing, and “the city usually supports them in their efforts with the most difficult situations. Now, for the first time, the city of Montreal and its boroughs will reinforce their efforts in order to inspect 10,000 rental housing units this year.”

CDN-NDG has many older buildings with many cases of neglect, added Sourias, who says under the Projet Montréal administration, the borough has been proactive in working with local housing organizations supporting tenants. “This has helped in better understanding the reality on the ground and informing tenants about their rights.”

To inform tenants and make landlords more accountable, inspection results will be publicly available on the city’s website with ratings for elements inspected. The city will also harmonize inspection practices and strengthen the use of coercive tools to encourage owners to carry out required work and reduce delays in resolving non-conformities.

To improve transparency regarding rent prices and protect tenants from excessive increases, the city is also giving $30,000 to Vivre en Ville to help improve its Rent Registry, which already lists the rents of some 20,000 housing units in Montreal thanks to voluntary registration by residents. The financial contribution will make it possible to add some 2,500 registrations to the Registry and a “City of Montreal” section will be added to the analysis report. An awareness campaign will be produced and communicated to Montrealers to quickly increase tenants’ buy-in.

That shift from creating a city registry to subsidizing an existing NGO project is “an abandonment” of an election promise,” says Ensemble Montréal housing critic Julien Hénault-Ratelle. “When we see the amounts given, $30,000, it is really peanuts compared to what is necessary. The numbers speak for themselves: we are talking about average rent increases of 8% last year, 10% this year; it takes strong actions, concrete actions and unfortunately that’s not what we see from the administration.”

Inspection numbers don’t add up either, says Hénault-Ratelle, insisting the administration “abandoned” tenants by dropping a pledge to implement landlord certification. Under the previous plan, the obligation was on owners to do inspections by private firms “and what we see today is to increase, with no additional inspectors, the number of preventive inspections… This is a flagrant retreat.” He says notwithstanding the city’s claim otherwise, the current crop of inspectors would need 60 years “just to come and inspect building exteriors of six or more units.” He says another 50 new hires are needed to conduct 19,000 inspections within five years. “We’re putting the majority of the responsibility on the boroughs,” he says, noting that with city transfers of 2%, “boroughs are being squeezed.”

For information about the plan (in French) visit https://montreal.ca/articles/proprietaire-responsable-pour-des-multilogements-bien-entretenus-28583. View the Registry at https://rentalregistry.ca/en/on/about-registry n

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