Projects

The Business of Housing

“The Business of Housing” is a report and recommendations regarding the implementation of residential rental licensing program at the municipal level. Residential rental licensing programs invite local governments to adopt a more business-minded approach to residential rental accommodation; the underlying logic being that since other types of business owners are required to obtain licences and pass certain health and safety inspections on a regular basis, so too should landlords. The fact that landlords are in the business of profiting from properties that serves as tenants’ homes is all the more reason to ensure that tenants are indeed receiving the goods and services for which they pay and depend upon. This report explores the characteristics of residential rental licensing programs, analyzes the program implemented in Toronto, contemplates the potential impacts of residential rental licensing programs, and details how such a program could be realized in Edmonton.

no fixed Address

“No Fixed Address” is a report on some of the ways that homelessness in unjustly prohibited and penalized in Edmonton. Student Legal Services wrote “No Fixed Address“ based on data collected through freedom of information requests about the number of tickets and charges that Transit Peace Officers and Edmonton Police Service Officers gave to people with “no fixed address” in 2018. The report includes six recommendations for Edmonton Transit Service, Transit Peace Officers, the City of Edmonton, Alberta’s Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, and for the Parliament of Canada.