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To: Premier Doug Ford
Premier Ford: Protect renters, put a stop to Bill 184
Remove the provisions from Bill 184 that make it harder (or even impossible) for tenants to defend themselves in eviction hearings, allow landlords to increase rent with reduced notice, and immediately evict renters who miss even a single rental payment plan installment.
Why is this important?
With millions of Canadians out of work through no fault of their own, it's become impossible for many to keep up with rent, small business owners and residents alike.
Premier Ford has stated that "greedy landlords" must work with their commercial tenants or face his wrath - and rightly so. [1]
Yet when it comes to residential tenants, Ford calls a very different tune. Ford's government is in the process of ramming through Bill 184, a cruel measure that makes it easier for landlords to evict tenants and makes it harder - in some cases impossible - for tenants to defend themselves in eviction hearings. It also slashes protections against landlords raising rents without notice.
Finally, it makes it so that renters can no longer raise persistent disrepair issues at Landlord and Tenant Board hearings. [3]
Make no mistake - most landlords are not your friendly mom and pop operations. In fact, in Canada, "mom and pop" landlords make up just 3% of Canadian households. Many landlords are huge financial investment firms who pay a management company to deal with the logistics - the landlord is simply a faceless batch of investors. [4,5]
And they're not struggling. According to the Toronto Star, "a top Canadian REIT earned $778 million in rental revenue last year. Its operating expenses (including property taxes and utilities) were about $270 million — leaving $508 million in net operating income, or profits." [6]
Premier Ford, you should be ashamed of yourself. You ran on a platform of supporting the "little guy". Yet here we are in the midst of a pandemic, and you're handing power over to faceless and obscenely wealthy corporations to senselessly evict struggling people and take away their ability to defend themselves at the Landlord and Tenant Board.
We deserve better, Premier. You named Bill 184 "Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing". Make it live up to its name - strike out the provisions that will turn more people out on the streets or force them to live in chronic disrepair in the name of investor profits.
Citations:
[2] https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2020/05/ontario-bill-184-evictions/
[4] https://www.landlordsoftoronto.com/
Photo credit: "Crossways Projects, Toronto" by Justin L Walsh (licensed under CC BY 2.0)