Feb 16 Legal Clinic in Lawrence Heights a Success!

On Saturday, February 16, Lawrence Heights residents attended a free Legal Clinic at Lawrence Heights Community Centre, set up by BASICS Community Newsletter, with support from allies at the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and the Roach, Schwartz and Associates law firm. It took place between 1-4 PM and demonstrated that tenants don’t have to sit back and put up with cockroaches, rodents, water leaks, and holes in their walls anymore.

Since the forms are notoriously confusing, BASICS organizers alongside the lawyers helped people learn about their legal rights as tenants and how to challenge the slumlord policies of TCHC. Residents were instructed on how to fill out the T2 (Tenant Rights) and T6 (Maintenance) forms of the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board, which can be downloaded from the Board’s website.

TCHC residents who have maintenance issues that have been ignored by TCHC can contact BASICS for assistance in filling out the T2 and T6. If you are interested in having BASICS aid you in filling out these forms, please contact us at basics.canada@gmail.com or at 416-800-0823. However, so that we can all save time and be better organized, you must organize 5 or more of your neighbours who are facing similar problems so that we can fill out many forms at once.

All working people deserve decent social housing and BASICS will continue to work alongside Lawrence Heights residents to build a stronger community that can stand up to the slumlord policies of TCHC. But this process begins with Lawrence Heights residents organizing themselves.