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Legislation/Regulation                                Release 05-07

Operational

Consultation with service managers and other stakeholder organizations led to a number of proposed changes that had widespread support across stakeholder groups. These changes are intended to give more local discretion, provide greater clarity and consistency in the regulations and ease administrative requirements.

The updated regulations are available on e-laws ( www.e-laws.gov.on.ca ). The changes became effective upon filing.

Summary of Changes by Topic Area:

Local priorities and market rent tenants

• An addition to section 41 of O. Reg. 298/01 clarifies that a local priority ranking date can be used instead of a chronological ranking date.
• A subsection has been added to section 60 of O. Reg. 298/01 to require service managers to make information about local priorities available to the general public.
• A change to O. Reg. 339/01 (14.1) removes the current restrictions and permits providers to change a market rent occupant to RGI if needed, where the provider is under its target for RGI units and the service manager agrees.

HILs and High Need definition

• Updates to Table 6 – Household Income Limits (HILs)  – and Table 2 – Criteria for High Need Households – in O. Reg. 368/01 address increases in rents that have taken place over the past five years and provide a more realistic eligibility level for persons needing geared-to-income assistance.
• Under the Social Housing Agreement (SHA), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is responsible for setting the HILs, which establish the income levels for eligibility for geared-to-income assistance. The income levels for high need households, based on the HILs, are also set out in a table.
• As a result of increased income levels for eligibility, additional households should become eligible for geared-to-income assistance and qualify for high need status.
• HILs also establish eligibility for Strong Communities Rent Supplement and the housing allowance units under the new Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program.

Overhoused households

• A change to section 39 of O. Reg. 298/01 clarifies that the rule permitting a household to refuse up to three offers of a unit before losing eligibility will also apply to overhoused households when they are placed on the internal transfer list.
• Subsection 11(2) of Minister’s Regulation O. Reg. 339/01 has been amended to remove the existing provision that households must leave the internal transfer list after one year to go onto the centralized waiting list.
• There is also a provision in O. Reg. 339/01 that providers must notify service managers if an overhoused household on the internal transfer list refuses a unit, to permit monitoring of the change to O. Reg. 298/01.

Eligibility for arrears etc.

• Changes to subsection 7(1) of O. Reg. 298/01 clarify that a household that owes arrears, damages or a reimbursement (adding reimbursement) from a previous tenancy (adding previous tenancy) under any housing program (removing the clause around who administers) will not be eligible unless the amount is repaid or there is a repayment plan in place.
• Arrears in an existing RGI unit can be treated through the eviction process.

Cessation of eligibility

• The automatic penalty of ineligibility for breaching many of the provisions of the SHRA is deemed too harsh and allows no discretion to service managers. An addition to section 12 of O. Reg. 298/01 permits service managers not to make a household ineligible if there are extenuating circumstances.
• For example, the current regulation says failure to notify a service manager of a change in information would make a household ineligible to receive assistance  – even if the change was for a reduction of income that would otherwise result in a rent reduction.

Young dependants signing leases and occupancy agreements

• There is a change to subsection 21(1) in O. Reg. 339/01 to give service managers the authority to determine if everyone over the age of 16 needs to sign a lease.

Household selection

• There is a change to section 14 of O. Reg. 339/01 to allow a provider to select from the external waiting list after it has offered a unit to priority households on its internal transfer list.
• The current regulation requires a provider to exhaust its internal transfer list before selecting from the centralized waiting list.

Notice requirements

• Changes to several sections of O. Reg. 298/01 (sections 5, 6, 15, 23, 54, 56, 57 and 58) allow the service manager flexibility in determining time frames for responding to applications, determining eligibility for assistance, notifying providers and households of decisions under the Act and setting time frames for the internal review process.
• The current rules were put in place to ensure there was a system in place at the time of transfer. Service managers now have the experience to be able to establish time frames that work for their administrative structures.
• Changes to O. Reg. 339/01 (sections 18 and 20) give discretion to providers on setting time frames for internal reviews.
• No changes have been made to time frames relating specifically to special priority matters.

Provision of information for applicants

• Service managers are currently required to make certain information available to the public and provide copies to every applicant. A change to section 60 of O. Reg. 298/01 reduces the volume of information a service manager must provide to all households applying for assistance to information relating to eligibility, local and provincial priority requirements and internal review rules.
• It does not affect the information a service manager is required to make available to the public about social housing in its service area.

Review of eligibility and waiting lists

• A change to section 11 of O. Reg. 298/01 requires service managers to review eligibility for households on the waiting list at least once every two years instead of every year. This will reduce the administrative burden on service managers but still maintain acceptable accuracy of the waiting lists.
• A further change to section 36 of O. Reg. 298/01 allows service managers and providers to agree on a schedule for the service manager to send the provider its subsidiary list. The full list is currently required to be sent at least once each month. Information for households eligible under local or provincial priority rules will still be forwarded monthly.

Sale of assets

• Currently there are special rules to prevent a below-market transfer of assets among family members within three years of applying for geared-to-income assistance if it is done to reduce assets to reduce geared-to-income rent charges. The penalty is to be deemed to retain ownership of the asset, with the value depreciating each year. A change to section 50 of O. Reg.298/01 changes the date to within three years of being housed and add that transferring assets to avoid exceeding a local asset limit rule is also grounds for the penalty to be imposed.  
• A further change to section 50 will allow service managers discretion to determine rate of depreciation of the asset.

Retroactivity provisions

• A change to section 50 of O. Reg. 298/01 allows service managers to consider as income, certain lump sum payments if they are for past or future time periods, such as retroactive pension, support payments or pay in lieu of notice. This will allow equal treatment with those who have received their payments on time and paid rent each month. Service managers are to use the reimbursement provisions of the legislation, which generally allow for a maximum 10% additional payment.

Consents

• Changes to sections 14 and 16 of O. Reg. 368/01  allow service managers to provide the province an indemnification against mortgage losses, suitable to the minister, in exchange for an exemption to ministerial consent. The approvals process for ministerial consents is considered by many service managers to be too time consuming and it may act as a deterrent to redevelopment of social housing property. This provision would apply to public housing and some non-profit property transactions. 

Internal review for boards of housing co-operatives

• A change to section 18 of O. Reg. 339/01 provides that applicants to a housing co-operative have a right to an internal review of a membership committee’s decision to refuse to offer a unit. This gives the board of directors the final decision on membership to resolve a conflict between the SHRA rules on internal review and Co-operative Corporation Act requirements on board responsibility for membership decisions.

Additional charges for co-operative housing

• A change to section 22 of O. Reg. 339/01 amends the definition of rent for housing co-operatives to refer to a sector support levy rather than a portion of the charge payable to the Co-operative Housing Federation, and a further change will allow co-ops to charge fees agreed to by the membership and established in a bylaw, which requires support of a two-thirds majority of members.

Technical

• References to the Rent Supplement Homelessness Initiative and Rent Supplement Special Needs Homelessness Initiative in O. Reg. 298/01, O. Reg. 368/01, O. Reg. 642/00 and O. Reg. 644/00 have been removed as they were not devolved programs and should not have been included.

The Guide to Rent-Geared-To-Income Assistance will be revised as needed to address the changes, and copies highlighting the changes will be sent to service managers in the near future.

For further information please contact Roy Sanger at 416-585-6405 or email roy.sanger@mah.gov.on.ca .

Sincerely,

Toni Farley
Director
Social Housing Branch

30 December 2005