Damian Mikhail for Ward 6

Renters in Waterloo are facing a crisis. With slumlords rampant throughout our city, many of us know of neighbours who have experienced or have experienced ourselves, flagrant violations of building standards and our cities bylaws. Today, to protect yourself, you need not only a deep understanding of your rights, both the time and knowledge to enforce them, and the willingness to pick a fight with your own landlord. The results? Buildings and homes in disrepair.

We will establish a new Renters Protection Office with a mandate for proactive and consistent inspections of rentals in the city and to report on the issues plaguing renters. We will build a city that actively protects renters and root out bad landlords.

Canada is one of the most expensive countries in the world to own or rent a home. There’s no other way to put it beyond that we are in a crisis. Yet in this crisis our government has been unmoving. We deserve a city that takes this issue seriously and doesn’t simply pass the buck.

We will do this by establishing a Municipal Housing Corporation. This will act both as a public builder and housing operator, to begin tackling our housing crisis directly. We will build a city that is affordable, that is liveable, and that is beautiful. We have the power to make a real difference to build housing for all of us and to build a city we can be proud of.

Our climate is worsening and with it comes larger and more frequent snowstorms. Even today, winters in Waterloo are rough. We have worked so hard to build a city that can be explored by foot, from a dense and beautiful uptown to wonderful trails and parks, but 6 months out of the year we lose access to that city.

We must stop pretending that these snowfalls are unexpected. We live in Canada and in Canada it snows. So let’s prepare ourselves and establish a policy of universal snow clearing across the city. We will not allow ourselves to lose access to our own city 6 months out of the year, we will take our city back.