City of Windsor Petition for Bylaws Regarding Boarding Houses

Dear Neighbour, 

I am a concerned citizen living in downtown windsor. I have lived here since 1983. Recently my neighbour's house was sold to real estate speculators from Toronto. After the new owners failed to sell the house for a profit over the last 6-7 months, they have decided to turn the 3-4 bedroom single family house next to me into a boarding house with shared bedrooms for up to 12 people. I became concerned after seeing the 8-12 beds they ordered, and seeing this ad on Facebook, and reached out to the City of Windsor with my concerns. 

I was informed by the City, there is nothing they can do regarding this matter and that the city has no jurisdiction on boarding houses or flop houses, and that no special zoning is required for anyone to start boarding houses/shared living situations anywhere in the city. There are currently no regulations regarding boarding houses such as this at all. 

In addition to my own concerns, I am deeply concerned about the health and well-being of future tenants of this house. How will 8-12 people– probably strangers– live together safely in a house of modest size with 2 bathrooms and 1 kitchen during a pandemic? Will there be other threats to their physical safety? 

I am appealing to you my neighbours to sign this petition asking for reasonable protections including a bylaw against boarding houses in residential areas, a zoning requirement for group living and boarding house situations, and rules governing boarding houses and shared living rentals to insure tenant safety and protections, landlord protections, and neighbourhood protections.

We need rules and laws in place to protect the well-being of tenants/renters, homeowners, and neighbourhoods from being subjected to absentee landlords, cheap, poorly maintained, and transient living situations in the heart of existing neighbourhoods, near schools during the middle of a highly contagious pandemic.

Other cities have these protections, why don’t we, the people of Windsor deserve them too? 

Our local representative on the City Council is Rino Bortolin. Please feel free to reach out to him or the city directly if you feel so moved. 

Councillor Rino Bortolin - Ward 3

350 City Hall Square West,

Suite 220

Windsor, ON

N9A 6S1

Phone:519-946-5067

Email: rbortolin@citywindsor.ca

Office of the City Clerk

350 City Hall Square West,

Room 530

Windsor, Ontario N9A 6S1

Canada

For general inquiries, call 311.

Fax: 519-255-6868

Email: clerks@citywindsor.ca 

Sincerely, 

Kathleen Pistor 

Kathleen Pistor    Contact the author of the petition