(Affordable) housing in Toronto is a complete joke.
With rent and housing prices flaming higher every day, the icebergs in Antartica aren’t the only thing that are melting.
Renters are having breakdowns over the housing market crisis that has overtaken the city.
Toronto’s housing market prices are skyrocketing, creating problems for middle-class income families to find housing, residents told the city’s committee of affordable rental housing Wednesday evening.
About 100 tenants and staff members were present at Toronto City Hall to discuss the problems and solutions to affordable housing within the city.
The biggest problem that arose from this meeting was the lack of affordable housing alternatives, said several renters.
“A recent research from McGill University showed how short-term rentals are escalating the housing crisis,” said Tanya Neumeyer, 37, a Toronto-based poet who was forced to move out twice.
“Many people are being evicted so that their homes can be renovated for non-residential purposes and change them to short-term rentals,” said Neumeyer.
Out of the 100 residents, 30 said they were illegally evicted by landlords and had to retain legal services, making money even tighter than it had already been.
“Paying for legal services is making it difficult to meet our other life expenses,” said Barbara Erochina, a wellness coach and wife of Neumeyer.
With a city as expensive as Toronto, owning a house is next to impossible, said many tenants.
“We do not rent because we consider renting temporary. Like so many others, we rent because we cannot afford to own,” Erochina told the committee.
If they are forced to leave again, “we do not know how we will afford to stay in Toronto,” she said.
“Affordable housing alternatives isn’t an option, because that’s only available outside of Toronto and that would affect our working lives.”
Many are just looking for apartments to rent, as they do not qualify for a down payment or mortgage, said Benjamin James Pullia, an auto mechanic.
“The state does not see renters having the same rights to their home as those who happen to have the money to be owners,” said Pullia.
Many said landlord rights are favoured over renters.
“I’ve rented for nearly two decades in this city. My home is more mine than it is my landlord’s,” said Pullia.
High housing fees aren’t the only problem. Illegal evictions and assaults by landlords also occur said Kira Heineck, a member of the Toronto Alliance to End Homelessness.
“Renovictions and other types of predatory landlord behaviour directly cause homelessness,” said Heineck, who is also executive director of the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association.
Heineck said she found there were about three to four illegal evictions every month in smaller buildings. She also found that annually, about 600 people are illegally evicted.
This leaves people homeless for quite some time, without any support or services for alternative options she said.
“As we identify and root out bad practices, let’s also draw out (on) what good landlords should be doing,” said Heineck.
Many believe landlords are targeting lower-income individuals, because there’s no other reason for being illegally evicted, said Bradley Birnie, 47, an actor.
“The only I’ve thing done is belong to a lower socioeconomic group,” said Birnie.
He said he pays his rent on time, does not disturb his neighbours or damage the building.
“The landlords will pay the ineffective fine. That is in no way a deterrent,” he said. “They will keep on doing business, while I and others will be homeless.”
O.K. boomers. We’ll see if the city committee actually does something about this instead of just giving false hope and promises to address the issue with the rest of the staff.
Find Your Perception 