RESIDENTS WANT DRUG LANDLORDS OUT OF BUSINESS

Old Neighbourhoods Bear The Traffic, But Entire City Pays The Price,
They Say

Community groups are asking the City of Ottawa to get tough with
landlords who allow their properties to be operated as drug houses.

Cheryl Parrott, chairwoman of the security committee at the Hintonburg
Community Association, led a delegation of community leaders to the
Ottawa Police Services Board on Monday night, then spoke to city
council yesterday.

Ms. Parrott said the city's older neighbourhoods, including
Hintonburg, Dalhousie and Vanier, are afflicted with properties --
often owned by out-of-town landlords -- that are rented out at great
profit to drug dealers.

The neighbourhood suffers, but the wider population pays too, because
they face the cost of providing police, bylaw, and property standards
services. The community groups did some analysis of service calls to
particular addresses and found that one property in Dalhousie was the
subject of 331 calls in three years, costing the city an estimated
$66,000.

Bruce McConnville, of Vanier, said nine properties in Vanier cost the
city an estimated $274,000 over three years.

Ms. Parrott said community groups have tried to persuade landlords not
to rent to drug dealers, and succeeded in some instances. But she said
for a hard-core group of money-motivated landlords, "The shaming is
not working." Some of the properties have been drug houses for many
years.

She said "some kind of bigger stick" is needed for a small group of
landlords who are "sapping the city dry." This week, city council is
hearing the public's views on what the spending plan should be for
2007.

"They're not going to change till their pocketbook hurts," said Ms.
Parrott.

She wants the city to not only charge property owners for service
calls, but also to levy heavy fines.

The community groups had a receptive audience for the message,
especially at the police services board. City officials undertook to
find out what measures can be taken under provincial law to go after
the bad landlords.

David Lyman, vice-president of the Eastern Ontario Landlord
Organization, said the effort was not necessary.

"There's no need to be creating new laws or bylaws that would
potentially take an extremely rare situation ... and apply charges and
fees that will impact landlords on a broader scope. In the end, it's
going to be more expensive for the tenant, who will end up paying the
cost of this," Mr. Lyman said.

"If the landlord is aiding or abetting criminal activity, they ought
to be charged and they ought to face the consequences. But it seems
peculiar to me that there are landlords who are turning a blind eye to
have their buildings ravaged by crime. It is not a logical, wise
financial choice."