Yuni Kim
News Editor
A public forum hosted September 20 at York was dominated by concerns over the fate of unregulated illegal rooming houses in the Village—some of which reportedly house up to 15 students and cause major fire safety violations—and an upcoming change to zoning bylaws put forward to city council.
However, Cassidy Ritz of North York District’s Community Planning revealed that the changes would not, in fact, lead to the legalization or regulation of rooming houses in the Village.
“Anything that would happen in this area that would allow for rooming houses would have to be a whole separate initiative,” said Cassidy.
She explained that despite “ongoing investigations” revealing widespread conversion of homes into illegal rooming houses, the process required to regulate rooming houses in the Village would have to be put forward by a council member, and would then be subject to further consultation. As yet no council member has put forward such a motion.
“At this moment in time with rooming houses not being permitted, if we discover a rooming house the only option we have is to close it down,” said Warwick R. Perrin, a representative of the City of Toronto.
The majority of community members in attendance were landlords. Members of York administration were also present, such as vp students Rob Tiffin and members of York community relations.
Despite the fact that much of the discussions dealt with housing problems in the York Village, there were almost no students at the meeting, as pointed out by one of the landlords in attendance. The university requested specifically that consultation be held during September, when students were available. “We think it is important for students to participate in this process,” says Tiffin.
Although the Village is not under York’s jurisdiction, Tiffin says the university is working with the city on housing problems as well as with the Toronto Police Service, given recent criminal activities like theft, breaking and entering, and assaults.
To accommodate the diverse community population, Tiffin says the university has been working to ensure that international students as well as their overseas families will have access to a multi-language information source about safety related to housing.
“I think [Qian Liu’s death] created a greater focus for this,” says Tiffin. “We also have…[international] students who choose to live in the Village because they can’t find short-term accommodations. Many of the students who come here […] are only here for six weeks.”
A second consultation will be held on Wednesday, September 28 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Stedman Lecture Hall A on Keele campus, which will include a presentation by the York Federation of Students (YFS).
With files from Brent Rose and Kate Hudson
