Rooming or boarding houses are regaining favour with some Canadian cities as a way to offset a lack of affordable homes, but experts warn there are pitfalls to the once-popular form of urban housing.
On Tuesday, Montreal executive committee member Benoit Dorais told reporters that the city was applying its right of first refusal to purchase about 100 privately owned rooming houses, in which a person rents a single private room, and shares amenities such as bathrooms or kitchens. The move means the city has the right to match an offer to purchase them if they come for sale.
The former inn was purchased at a price of $2.6 million and renovated thanks to $5 million in federal funding, as well as support from the city, private donors and the province, which will subsidize rent. Toronto city council late last year adopted a housing action plan that includes legalizing rooming houses across the city by 2024. A new bylaw to come into effect at the same time sets out standards, regulatory oversight and enforcement and licensing rules, the city said in an email.
In the 1980s and 1990s, concerns over their safety led cities to impose harsher regulations and licensing requirements, which led to many being closed or demolished, while the recent rise in home values had led owners to sell or convert them to more lucrative forms of housing, she said.
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