RentSafePublic Health Action on Rental Housing and Health Equity in Ontario: Results of the RentSafe-OPHA Public Health Survey
Authors: RentSafe & Ontario Public Health Association
Published: November 2025
In the winter of 2023–2024, RentSafe and the Ontario Public Health Association conducted a survey of public health units in Ontario to assess the role of public health in addressing unhealthy housing. This report provides a detailed summary of the data collected through the survey. Survey responses are aggregated by question, including significant respondent quotations and paraphrased responses where relevant.
View the report here: Public Health Action on Rental Housing and Health Equity in Ontario
Interested in a snapshot of the survey findings and recommendations? Read our report Toward a safe and healthy place to call home produced in collaboration with the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health and Ontario Public Health Association.
Model mould by-law
The mould model by-law, found below, was informed by a comprehensive scan of existing by-laws across Ontario and co-created with the expertise of both public health inspectors and municipal property/by-law officers. It is now available through the Ontario Association of Property Standards Officers (OAPSO) Model Property Standards By-Law (see by-law 4.16), and is copied here, with permission.
OAPSO’s updated model by-law on mould in housing can be adopted by municipalities across Ontario to include more robust mould remediation language. It was developed through active collaboration among provincial professional associations from public health and municipal services, with representatives from the Ontario Association of Property Standards Officers (OAPSO), The Municipal Law Enforcement Officers Association of Ontario (MLEOA), the Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA), the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors – Ontario Branch (CIPHI-ON), the Association of Supervisors of Public Health Inspectors of Ontario (ASPHIO) and RentSafe.
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