City council will decide whether to adopt a Residential Rental Housing Initiative when they meet Monday morning.
Issues concerning the condition of rental properties near the University of Windsor and St. Clair College have been discussed for more than a decade, according to Ward 2 Councillor Fabio Costante.
He says the options on the table to deal with the issue include creating a citywide mandatory or voluntary registration program and leaving the issue with current complaint based standards.
The remaining option is pilot project in Wards 1 and 2, which have the highest rate of student rentals.
Costante says an influx of international students and a lack of on-campus options have shone a light on the issue over the past five years.
"Many tenants find themselves not having a lot of options when they're choosing places to live in and being subjected to units that may not be in line with fire and building codes," says Costante.
He says many tenants don't file complaints because they're simply happy they found a place to stay or they fear they'll be evicted.
"Let me be clear here, it's not in all cases, but in some cases there's the proliferation of slum lords and absentee landlords who frankly just don't care about the places they invest in or the living conditions of those tenants that they bring in," he added.
Costante says the pilot is the best option to give the city data needed to decide on a citywide initiative.
"I can tell you that municipalities like Waterloo and Oshawa have successfully rolled out citywide residential rental licences to further protect tenants and to regulate the market in a way that mitigates against the exploitation of tenants from some landlords," he says.
Eighteen delegates are scheduled to address council on the issue.
Council gets underway this morning at 10:30 a.m.