City wants to boost program where Mohawk students ticket the McMaster area

Hamilton councillors want to make permanent and expand a students-policing-students program where Mohawk College co-op students slap tickets on properties around McMaster University to target derelict student housing.

But McMaster Students Union (MSU) representatives are urging against it.

The program unfairly targets students, said Ryan Deshpande, vice-president, education. The fact that Mohawk students are laying the tickets, he said, creates "an interesting dynamic." 

It is leading to the enforcement of law in the neighbourhood.- Aidan Johnson, Ward 1 councillor

The program has resulted in some questionable tickets, he said, and MSU will help its members fight them.

"We call into question some of those tickets because of that lack of training," he said. "If some of those tickets aren't being given out fairly."

Despite the outcry, city council's planning committee voted Tuesday to hire two more Mohawk co-op students to crack down on west end yard maintenance. If council grants final approval next week, the trial run becomes permanent.

The debate happened after a weekend where McMaster students were in the spotlight.

On Saturday, about 2,000 students attended a homecoming party on Dalewood Avenue South Saturday, police say.

There were no injuries, but the party blocked the street, and police issued about 30 provincial offences notices ranging from liquor infractions to public urination. Sean Van Koughnett, the university's dean of students, said the city "deserves better."

736 issues with yard maintenance

While the party was referenced, Tuesday's debate was mainly around the condition of properties around the university.

Two Mohawk co-op students are paid $19 per hour — 55 per cent of what a regular bylaw officer is paid — to enforce yard maintenance in Ainslie Wood. 

Since the one-year pilot program began in January, they've issued 736 orders to comply for yard-related maintenance bylaws, said Kelly Barnett, co-ordinator of municipal bylaw enforcement. The compliance rate is 75 per cent. In the other 25 per cent of cases, the property owner has to pay $271 for a first offence.

Tuesday's vote would add two more students to the west end, Barnett said. There are also two Mohawk co-op students working with animal services, and two patrolling the rest of the city.

Matthew Green, councillor for Ward 3 in the central lower city, said the program unfairly targets students, and sends a bad message for a city wanting to retain graduates. He voted against the program, as did Judi Partridge of Ward 15.

'Stigmatize the population'

"What this does is stigmatize the population," he said, "and create a targeted approach to enforcement."

Aidan Johnson, councillor for Ward 1, where the university is located, argued the program is necessary. 

"It is leading to improvements in hygiene in the neighbourhood," he said. "It is leading to the enforcement of law in the neighbourhood."

The real issue in Ainslie Wood, Johnson said, is absentee landlords. Deshpande said this program doesn't change that.

"In theory, this might work," he said. But "in the end, the students are still paying for it."