by MARC APOLLONIO

In 2003, the city of Montreal armed itself with a housing by-law with teeth—something to enable it to take on negligent landlords and rid Montreal of slums. When it was adopted, the By-law Concerning the Sanitation and Maintenance of Dwelling Units was lauded by housing activists as a step in the right direction.

The citywide code mandates officials to step in and pay for the reparations of severe problems, like rat infestations and collapsing walls, and send the bill to the landlord afterwards. It raised the maximum fine up to $20,000 for repeat infractions in dangerous or unhealthy lodgings.

Where there’s contention over the by-law is in its application.

André Trépanier, spokesperson for the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ), says that little has changed since its introduction.

“We [RCLALQ] worked with the city in the winter and spring of 2003 to develop the by-law, but now, three years later, we feel that we’ve been deceived,” he says.

Trépanier says the lack of improvement isn’t due to too few housing inspectors, but rather, “There’s no systematic follow-up.”

Rattling off the names of the city’s boroughs, he notes those that have improved since 2003. “Ultimately, Rosemont-Petite-Patrie and Verdun are the only ones that have improved, and even there, it’s not 10 out of 10,” he says. “It’s just that we’re less unhappy.”

Trépanier did, however, praise the borough council of Ahuntsic-Cartierville for the two-month tour de force they’ve unleashed on buildings owned by one of Montreal’s most notorious landlords, Sadok Sagman.

From May 1 to June 31, the borough assigned three inspectors to visit all 559 units of the 21-building Place l’Acadie/Place Henri-Bourassa complex that recently garnered significant press reports for its rats, mould and roaches.

Trépanier says the inspection was a long time coming.

“Despite innumerable complaints, they’ve remained slums,” he says.

Yves Deslauriers, spokesperson for the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough council, explains that borough authorities are sometimes held up by protocol when dealing with private buildings.

“The borough has to intervene according to a legal framework,” he says. “We hope that tenants will bring their complaints to the landlords themselves, but only in severe cases can we intervene on very short notice,” he says. In the most extreme examples, the city can step in in less than an hour.

According to Isabelle Dumas, a chief city planner and one of the authors of the by-law, the issues are more complex to resolve than by simply hitting landlords with fines.

More and more, she says, tenants with physical or mental disabilities are being left on their own in apartments and this sometimes leads to unsanitary and unsafe conditions.

“In some cases there are behavioural problems that need to be addressed by other specialists,” she says.

Cosmo Maciocia, the city councillor in charge of housing, will meet with housing activists to discuss the by-law in June and follow up with a public conference in late summer.

“I think it will be a frank discussion because people were pointing their fingers at the city and the mayor didn’t like that,” Trépanier says.