NDP leader Marit Stiles says her party intends to force a debate about tenant protections in Queen’s Park today
Hundreds of Torontonians marched through the city’s Financial District on National Housing Day, calling on Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives to kill a bill they say will make housing increasingly unstable for renters in the city.
Bill 60, called the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, proposes a host of changes to tenancy rules in the province. Earlier this month, Toronto’s city council warned the legislation will make it easier for landlords to evict tenants and could exacerbate the homelessness crisis in the city.
The Ontario legislature could vote on the bill as early as today. Given the PC’s majority government at Queen’s Park, Bill 60 is expected to pass.
Chants of “Doug Ford, slum lord” and “stop the war on the poor” rang out as a coalition of housing, climate and cycling groups marched to Queen’s Park on Saturday.
Advocates at the march said they were particularly concerned with the bill’s proposals to speed up eviction processes and restrict renters’ abilities to defend themselves at Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) hearings.
Critics take aim at Bill 60 proposals
Bill 60 would allow landlords to evict tenants who fail to pay rent within seven days — slashing the current 14-day grace period in half. The proposed legislation would also reduce the time renters have to appeal LTB decisions and would require tenants to pay 50 per cent of alleged rental arrears before they can raise maintenance and safety issues at LTB hearings.
Ford’s Progressive Conservatives have said these measures will unlock housing for responsible tenants and reduce the current backlog of cases at the LTB.
But according to Yaroslava Avila Montenegro, executive director of the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations, Bill 60 does not present real solutions to the province’s housing woes.
“Unlocking housing by throwing people on the street is not a housing solution,” she said. “Where are those people going to go? They’re going to end up on the street and that’s what we want to help prevent.”
Protesters marched through the Financial District to Queen’s Park. Kathryn Mannie
Stacey Semple, an organizer with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), said Bill 60’s proposals are an “attack on tenants rights.”
“Landlords already have so many advantages that if they give them more, you’re gonna see massive homelessness within just a short period of time,” she said.
Semple said landlords, especially corporate landlords, were already looking for ways to evict longstanding tenants so they can raise rents on their units. Bill 60 would embolden them further, she argued.
“Why are you feeding corporate landlords more tools to make more money when the tenants are having a hard enough time in this economy?” she questioned.
Chiara Padovani, co-chair of the York South-Weston Tenant Union, called the bill a “slap in the face” to tenants who are already dealing with high rent prices, a rising cost of living and a tariff crisis — all factors that are making housing increasingly unaffordable.
She raised concerns about the bill’s proposal to create a public database of LTB decisions, which could allow landlords to see if prospective renters had been evicted in the past. She claimed this measure would create a “blacklist for tenants.”
“It makes it even harder to find a place to rent after you’ve lost your home, as if it isn’t hard enough already,” she said.
Protesters marched on the street and cheered as passing motorists honked their horns. Kathryn Mannie
Ontario NDP throw support behind march
Saturday’s march began at the office of the Federation of Rental-Housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO), an organization representing landlords that has thrown its support behind Bill 60.
“FRPO applauds the Ontario government for introducing measures that support timely and effective outcomes at the Landlord & Tenant Board and reduce barriers to purpose-built rental development,” said FRPO CEO Tony Irwin after Bill 60 was announced. “FRPO looks forward to working with the government to advance the successful implementation of these important initiatives.”
Protesters who gathered outside the office of the Federation of Rental-Housing Providers of Ontario were met by a line of police officers. Kathryn Mannie
From FRPO’s offices at the corner of King and Yonge streets, protesters marched past City Hall to Queen’s Park.
Along the way, they were joined by MPP Alexa Gilmour, a member of the Ontario NDP representing Parkdale—High Park.
Gilmour told TorontoToday she fears how Bill 60 will impact her riding, which is already facing gentrification.
“Parkdale—High Park has over 60 per cent renters,” she said. “These additional pressures that Bill 60 will put on renters will have a devastating effect on the community.”
She said passing Bill 60 could mean people who live and work in her riding, or have lived there for generations, may be forced to move.
The protest passed by City Hall on its way to Queen’s Park. Kathryn Mannie
Gilmor said the Ontario NDP intends to put forth an opposition motion on Monday to ask the Ford government to reconsider Bill 60.
Marit Stiles, leader of the Ontario NDP, met the protesters at Queen’s Park and told reporters that her party intends to “force a debate, once again, on a number of important protections for tenants” when the legislature sits on Monday.
“We’re actually going to try to get the government to repeal the legislation as soon as they pass it,” she added.
While most protesters on Saturday were concerned about the immediate impact of Bill 60, Benjamin Scott, a Torontonian who attended the protest with his seven-year-old son, said he’s concerned about what the bill will mean for future generations.
Scott questioned what kind of housing market his son will inherit when it comes time for him to rent his first apartment.
“This is a problem for generations to come,” he said. “We can’t be thinking of landlord profits as the number one priority.”
Scott, a member of the Livmore High Park Tenants’ Association, said his family has already been a victim of Ford’s housing policies — namely, Ford’s decision to remove rent control for new buildings starting in 2018.
Scott said his family was forced to leave their rental unit after facing double-digit rent hikes from their landlord each year.
“The thousands and thousands of dollars that we paid in extra rent because of those rent increases, what did they do? They went to line the pockets of corporate landlords. They didn’t get houses built,” he said. “These policies are directly harming Ontario families.”
When Bill 60 was initially announced, it proposed ending indefinite leases, a measure critics warned would effectively end rent control in Ontario.
The province backed away from the proposal and called off public consultations on ending indefinite leases after public outcry.
