The City of Windsor is moving forward with a residential rental property licensing pilot project.
Council has approved the program in Ward 1 and 2 in an effort to ensure properties are safe for tenants and meet current property standards.
Ward 2 councillor Fabio Costante brought the motion forward as complaints continue to pile up over the condition of rental properties near the University of Windsor and St. Clair College.
Nearly 20 delegates addressed council on the issue Monday.
Ward 2 resident Mike Cardinal is in favour of the program and says the license fee is a small price to pay to keep people safe.
"A license is a very small percentage of the profits. The residential rental license system will send no landlord to the poor house, but the status quo will definitely send another tenant to the morgue."
Anna Colombo with the Faculty of Law and the University of Windsor says some students are living in terrible conditions.
"We have landlords who refuse to fix broken furnaces in winter, landlords who refuse to fix broken toilets leaving tenants to use a bucket. This is why we need a registry. A licensing system and registry could address these kinds of problems before the jeopardize the health and safety of our residents."
Legal Aid Executive Director Marion Overholt says this is not a new problem.
"The rental market in low income housing is a landlord's market. The shortage means that low income residents can't find decent housing and the market allows landlords to be lax in their responsibility to maintain housing because desperate tenants will accept anything."
Each rental housing license will cost landlords just over $600 which includes a zoning, building and fire inspection.
Council discussed spanning the program city wide, but opted to target Ward 1 and 2 as the majority of concerns are coming from residents located there.
Findings from the pilot will be discussed in two years with an option to expand the program.