Great investigative reporting. Thanks to Kathy Tomlinson and Xiao Zu. 

Democracy works because the majority cooperate with the law, but democracies have great difficulty dealing with small groups of people who flout it. Look through the pages of the G&M and you will find dozens of stories about small groups of determined individuals with their own agenda causing complete disruption for the rest of us. 

Municipal governments and the CRA could solve these problems if they were motivated. Unfortunately they are staffed by people who hold indexed government pensions that depend on not rocking the boat. I'd be very surprised if the housing dept staff did not already know most of this information and have chosen to do nothing.