Federal NDP leader touts plans to combat renovictions at stop in London

Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was in London, Ont. on Aug. 1, 2024. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)

Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was in London Thursday, pitching his party's plan to discourage "renovictions" by requiring municipalities enact greater protections for tenants.

“If a municipality receives federal money, we also want to guarantee that they are going to put in place laws that protect tenants,” said Singh.

Singh said federal housing funds should be conditional on municipalities enacting anti-renoviction by-laws.

London is currently considering a by-law to require landlords obtain a "rental renovation license" from city hall before issuing an eviction notice.

The NDP leader said the feds should also help pay for enforcing anti-renoviction by-laws, estimated in London to be $500,000 a year.

“If municipalities need help to enforce this, then the federal government should absolutely step up to do it. And if they're already transferring money anyways, funds to support the building of affordable homes, there's already a pocket of funding. There's already an envelope of funding. They can go towards the enforcement and the implementation of this,” he said.