Raise the Hammer

A few things.
1. Taxes. seancb and jonathan, you are both wrong if you think converting a house into a duplex (or tri-plex) will significantly increase taxes. MPAC considers a "multi-unit" property to be 7, or more units, http://www.mpac.ca/pages_english/residential_data_definitions/print_abutment_proximity_variables.asp

That means your house with 2 units (or 6 units for that matter) will be taxed at a residential rate, not multi-unit. Legalizing all these illegal multi-unit homes will not result in a tax windfall for The City of Hamilton. If you want a tax windfall then close all the illegal ones down and incent new apartment building with 7, or more units, to absorb the tenants.

2. Multi-unit homes are a contributing factor to the closure of schools in the innercity. You can't raise a family in a basement bachelor, first floor one bedroom, or 1/2 storey bachelor. And many families don't want to live in neighbourhoods with a transient population.

3. Most of the older homes in Ward 3 are not 3,000sq ft. The large majority are sub-2,000sq. ft or perhaps slightly larger if an addition has been added, and those additions have usually been done without a building permit. 4, 5, or 6 units in these homes are essentially human kennels.

4. The old homes should be intensified to only 2, or in the case of larger homes 3 (and those are the exception). Anything more than that is not in keeping with building healthy neighbourhoods.

5. Having absentee landlords adhere to rules is akin to herding cats. Ask Terry Whitehead how his drive to license landlords is coming along...

6. Allowing illegally converted homes to become "legal" is wrong, and incenting them is totally wrong. If they want to legally convert they should have to start from a position of being legal. That's what "law abiding" citizens do.