WATERLOO — Ontario’s human rights watchdog will challenge part of Waterloo’s rental housing licensing bylaw at the human rights tribunal on the grounds it is discriminatory

Monday, Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Barbara Hall released the results of an inquiry into whether the bylaw — which limits bedrooms and charges landlords a fee — discriminates.

At issue is a requirement Hall’s been asking the city to change since before the bylaw was passed in 2011.

“We think that there’s still problems with the bylaw and that’s really with respect to the per-person floor-area requirements,” Hall said. “We will be challenging this in a commission-initiated application to the human rights tribunal.”

Waterloo’s 7 sq. m. per-person floor-area requirement is more stringent than the Ontario building and fire codes and could limit housing options for couples or others who want to share a bedroom, the inquiry found.

That could be discriminatory based on code grounds such as marital status, family status and sexual orientation.

But it appears the City of Waterloo has no plans to back down on the rule.

In a press release, the city said it is confident the bylaw hasn’t impacted code-protected groups. It says it will continue to monitor the per-person floor-area requirement.

Mayor Brenda Halloran and members of council were unavailable for comment.

“What we heard as recently as last week from the city is that they believe the bylaw complies with the law and they intend to work with it as it is,” Hall said.

A tribunal hearing could force the city to change the problematic part of the bylaw.

The inquiry heard from more than 225 local citizens and agencies on the controversial bylaw between March 8 and April 30 last year.

The commissioner also takes issue with an item in Waterloo’s zoning bylaw in relation to rental housing.

It’s a provision that stipulates how close certain types of lodging houses can be to each other.

Because of it some landlords are renting fewer bedrooms and renting to smaller groups of people to avoid the licensing bylaw rules for lodging houses, Hall said.

“It creates a situation where it’s very difficult to find places to have multiple rental units because of the exclusion of other such buildings,” Hall said.

The news wasn’t all bad for Waterloo. Hall praised the city for its co-operation throughout the inquiry, for referencing the Ontario Human Rights Code in the bylaw and applying the rules city-wide.

“We really appreciate the relationship that we’ve had with Waterloo,” Hall said.

The tribunal process could take upwards of a year and is just one more item in the controversial bylaw’s history.

It’s been opposed by many in the community. Critics called the bylaw a cash-grab, while fans said it increased safety.

(2013-05-28/therecord)