City council firmly kyboshed the four bedroom cap in any dwelling within Oshawa at a recent city council meeting. City staff went back to the drawing board and came up with a recommendation that council not approve the proposed amendments to the zoning bylaw when it comes to the maximum number of bedrooms in a unit. While the issue has been going on for about two years, city staff was authorized to take a look at residential densities at that time. The idea behind the proposal was to reduce the risk of too many people and bedrooms in a home. The issue was largely divided with some people wanting a cap so lodging houses, filled with students, wouldn’t become commonplace, while others didn’t want the cap as they felt it was infringing on their rights, especially for families.

At a recent development services meeting it was decided more work needs to be done on the issue and that the four-bedroom cap was simply unreasonable. Human Rights Commissioner Barbara Hall also raised concerns that it may be a violation of human rights. City Manager Bob Duignan is expected to release a report on June 1 regarding housing enforcement.