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Safe, quality, affordable, rental homes for all

 

Advocates call on the Edmonton City Council: take action on short term rentals, protect renters.
Media Availability: Friday, September 22nd 11:00AM - City Hall Councillors Offices (2nd Floor)
Media:
"As the housing crisis worsens, across Canada, advocates warn that renters are being left out of the conversation, and now more than ever require enhanced protections. Our first priority as Municipalities must be to help keep rental housing affordable". - Michael Janz
Advocates and community members will be available to call for action to protect renters and improve housing availability in Edmonton and across Alberta. 
Speakers include:
  • Michael Janz, City Councillor Ward papastew
  • Jacob Holloway (Student Legal Services Legal Education and Reform Coordinator & Report Author (attached)
  • Devon Beggs (Ward papastew resident, neighbour to a disruptive AirBnB)
  • Jakob Cardinal (Vice-President External, Chair, Edmonton Student Alliance)
  • Brad Lafortune, Executive Director, Public Interest Alberta
Background on Short term rentals
Following new McGill research showing conclusively that short-term rentals dramatically harm affordability, I intend to introduce a motion to address two gaps in our Business Bylaw related to short term rentals:

"That City Council move to amend the Bylaw 2002 (Section 60) residential short-term rental to add:

(f) not to exceed 90 days a year

(g) to require the owner to remain on the premises for the duration
Background on the Landlord Registry (See attached)
Student Legal Services conducted a research project on renter protections and Jacob Holloway will share a summary (attached is the summary and the full report).
By requiring landlords to register in such a program, municipalities can then use that data to create a publicly accessible database outlining whether minimum health and safety standards are being met and providing tenants with additional resources in the event that those standards are not being met. 
 

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City Council recently approved a rezoning across the street from the U of A and it got me thinking about all the underutilized or unused space on the U of A main campus.

The expression I often hear at city hall is “highest and best use of city land” – in other words, land that brings benefit to the community (eg, a park or public space) or land that generates revenue for the city to offset taxes and pay for services (Industrial, commercial, residential in that order) 

But what if the University of Alberta could generate revenue and mitigate the housing and climate crisis? The university already has the vehicle: the U of A Properties Trust, an arms length development corporation that pays dividends back into the U of A through innovative developments and land leases.

What I'm Hearing About the Old Strathcona Public Realm Strategy

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been meeting with several different organizations, attending meetings, door knocking, and responding to emails about the Old Strathcona Public Realm Strategy.

I wanted to share a bit of what I have been hearing and manage expectations about timelines. You can read and review the full draft plan here: https://www.edmonton.ca/sites/default/files/public-files/Old-Strathcona-Public-Realm-Strategy.pdf?cb=1713376450

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Connect with Michael

Email:
Phone: 780-496-8146
Address: 1 Sir Winston Churchill Sq, 2nd Floor, Edmonton, AB T5J 2R7