Steinbach City Council has given third and final reading to the Dwelling Safety Standards By-Law.

Councillor Michael Zwaagstra made the motion of approval. He notes the objective of the bylaw is to deal with minimum life safety standards for secondary suites within the city.

"We know that there are many of these suites that exist and it is important that we make sure that no matter where you live in the city, you have a proper smoke alarm, proper carbon monoxide alarms, and that every unit has access to a safe, continuous, and unobstructed exit out of the building. Obviously, these are basic minimum safety standards."

Steinbach CAO Troy Warkentin says city administration has been noticing increasingly frequent lack of compliance with these safety standards in secondary suites.

Councillor Jac Siemens notes even if a landlord needed to do all of these things to bring their secondary suite into compliance, it would only cost a few thousand dollars. He seconded the motion.

"I do think this is important and protects some of the marginalized in our community and I think it is important that we move forward. It should also be noted that the first year the city staff will be spending about 500 hours to implement this."

The first step in implementing the bylaw will be to identify all secondary suites in Steinbach. City administration estimates there are currently between 300 and 600 and they are not well documented.