Region wants to help tenants, landlords rent safely in Durham

Durham’s health and social services committee is hoping to educate the public through a new homelessness prevention program.

RentSmart is a program designed by a British Columbia-based non-profit called Ready to Rent BC, and is designed to help prevent homelessness, as well as help with housing stability.

It aims to build knowledge, life skills, and confidence in both tenants and landlords.

In November, the region used federal funding to certify 14 RentSmart educators, who can now deliver the program across Durham.

According to a report by commissioner of social services Stella Danos-Papaconstantinou, the RentSmart education program offers a wide variety of services and resources.

The first is RentSmart Basic, which offers three hours of material promoting how to successfully gain housing. The courses are population specific, helping them to meet the “unique needs of clients.”

There is also the RentSmart Certificates stream, which offers 12 hours of material aiming to help build a widespread understanding of life skills for tenants. Participants will earn a certificate when they complete the course.

“Graduates can present the certificate to landlords as confirmation that they have learned how to be a good tenant,” writes Danos-Papaconstantinou.

Support is also provided to graduates of RentSmart, as they come across any issues or conflicts in regards to housing.

The other stream targets landlords and property managers, as well as support workers.

“This course teaches skills on how to build long-term, successful tenancies,” writes Danos-Papaconstantinou.

Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter, a member of the health and social services committee, told The Oshawa Express he’s excited to see another project aimed at helping prevent homelessness.

“The big idea is to be able to keep people housed, and a big part of complex tenancy sometimes is the capacity of individuals to be able to not only work with the landlord and resolve issues, but make sure that issues are resolved before they become [more serious], and being able to help people through that process is really important,” says Carter.

He notes a successful tenancy needs an investment in the tenant’s life skills and comprehension, as well as understanding their roles and responsibilities.

“I think any way that we can help individuals be prepared in the real world that need additional supported programming is a good start,” he says.

The program was approved by committee unanimously, and will now heads to council for approval.