Parkdale
MetCap
Tenants began organizing in 2017 against above-guideline rent increases. They went on rent strike for 3 months. Though threats of eviction were made, tenants stood together and refused to back down. After visits to the landlord’s offices and houses, support rallies throughout the city and shutting down Landlord and Tenant Board hearings, they forced their landlord to come to the bargaining table. Tenants successfully defeated the rent increases, not at the Landlord and Tenant Board, but on their own terms.
“It wasn’t easy getting started organizing during COVID-19 but we are now organizing in 10 different Metcap buildings across the neighbourhood. Without face-to-face meetings, we had to find creative ways to share our stories with each other like through building newsletters and online chats. Tenants have relied on each other throughout this crisis. We won’t let any of our neighbours be left behind.”
Starlight
Once Starlight bought their buildings and applied for above-guideline increases, tenants began to organize against them. After Keep Your Rent began, the landlord issued notices saying they would enter units in an attempt to collect rent. Tenants organized phone and email campaigns and put an end to these threats. After a month of Starlight refusing to respond to tenants’ demands, a group of 50 tenants taped their demands to the door of Starlight CEO Daniel Drimmer’s mansion in Forest Hill while he hid inside and called the police.
“At 295 Dufferin we created an email list, some 150 tenants strong to communicate about proposed rent increases, rent strikes, and to take action against management intimidation including entering the homes of those who had not paid rent under the guise of general unit inspections.”
Golden Equity
Tenants organized their first major action as the pandemic began and the landlord shut off their water repeatedly without notice and issued bogus eviction notices. After tenants got involved in Keep Your Rent, the landlord issued notices saying they would enter units in an attempt to collect rent. These actions were stopped by organized tenants.
“We plastered the building in signs, spread the word over our social networks and gave interviews to local and national media. We were successfully able to get them to drop the notices, halt construction for the time being and get some of our badly needed repairs done. We’ve had upwards of 60% of the building keeping their rent at various points in the last two months. We know that when we fight back we win.”
Timbercreek
Since Timbercreek purchased buildings in Parkdale in 2018, tenants have seen a wave of displacement. Not a single unit has been rented out at the West Lodge towers since the purchase. While the city faces a major housing crisis, tenants have confirmed that over 150 units sit empty between the two buildings in north Parkdale. Timbercreek intends to clear out low-income tenants in order to replace them with people paying hundreds of dollars more per month. On Friday, May 29, tenants received notice-of-entry letters saying tenants must pay rent or set up payment plans and that the landlord would be entering units to “confirm occupancy” on June 1st. Tenants organized a mass phone and email campaign until Timbercreek agreed they would not enter anyone’s unit. Tenants rallied together on June 1 to ensure that Timbercreek did not intimidate their neighbours.
“West Lodge tenants have been organizing since April 1 as part of Keep Your Rent. We need rent forgiveness and a permanent eviction ban for non-payment during the pandemic. Low-income neighbourhoods like Parkdale have been the hardest hit by job losses and outbreaks of COVID-19. If Timbercreek can afford to let units sit empty, some of them for 2 years, they can afford to forgive our rent during a crisis.”
