Stop the Sell-Off of Public Housing in Toronto

TCHC Plans to Sell 350 Apt. Units and Houses
by Levi Waldron and Ryan Newell (OCAP)
BASICS Issue #13 (April/May)

The Toronto Community Housing Corporation is responding to the financial crisis and sharp drop in real estate prices by proposing the sell-off of 326 apartment units and 45 single-family homes of public housing (see a map with photos of these properties at www.communitywalk.com/tchforsale).

Meanwhile, the waiting list for social housing in the city of Toronto stands at an astonishing 70,000 and many TCH tenants already find it impossible to obtain transfers, especially to larger family-sized units.

TCHC management says that they are only selling properties that no one wants to live in, with high property values that will allow them to replace the units while saving money to put into repairs. However, seen alongside the ambitious “revitalization” plans for low-income neighbourhoods across the city in Regent Park, Lawrence Heights, Alexandra Park, Edgeley Village, Thistledown and Flemingdon Park, it is clear that this sell-off represents the final stages of gentrification that will occur in other “revitalized” public housing projects once property values are high enough.

Even temporary losses of public housing units have huge effects. One example is seen in the TCHC financial plan for Regent Park (2003, Table 3), which predicted a temporary shortfall of 461 unit-years of housing during redevelopment, plus as much as 2087 unit-years lost because demolitions are counted at the start of the year and new units are counted at the end of the year, meaning as much as 2548 unit-years lost, the equivalent of losing a 100-unit building for 25 years.

Unlike with Regent Park, we have no idea where, when, or with what, these units will be replaced. But they will not be replaced with comparably sized units in the same “mixed” neighbourhoods, or it wouldn’t make sense to sell them in the first place. TCHC wants to sell these units because they are located in desirable neighbourhoods with high property values, where the integration of public housing units in mixed-income areas as promoted in its “revitalization” plans already exists. The truth is that public housing can be repaired or rebuilt, communities can be renewed, without the large-scale sale of peoples’ homes, the demolition of older housing projects, and the dispersal of whole communities.

If the TCHC believes they can quietly carry out this dubious sell-off, they are sorely mistaken. The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) has researched the buildings and houses proposed for sale, and found large numbers of vacant units, and houses receiving overdue repairs after they are vacant and slated to be sold. TCHC is trying to ensure a smooth sell-off by allowing dozens of single-family houses and countless apartment units to sit vacant while families in TCHC buildings all over the city wait up to a decade for a transfer to a larger unit. OCAP has also begun meeting tenants who are unwilling to sit on their hands while the city turns a profit by selling the roof over their heads. One such building is 389 Church St, the only women-only apartment complex owned by TCHC. While TCHC’s claim that they simply can’t find enough women who want to live in shared accommodations with other women is hard to believe, it is harder to believe that other solutions can’t be found (for example, women with children are currently not allowed to stay in the building).

TCHC should be prepared to defend its sell-off proposal in the light of day. It is not enough to promise that the units will be replaced and tenants will be relocated: public housing tenants deserve to live with the dignity of knowing their homes are secure and to maintain the connections they have built over years in the neighbourhoods they call home. But it’s not just the tenants currently living in these units who should be concerned and ready to stand up and fight. Social housing is a public asset that was only won out of poor peoples’ struggle, and we cannot silently watch while it is sold off to make room for private developments. OCAP has announced that it is committed to supporting tenants in disrupting the sell-off process at every step along the way.

We need more social housing now! We need repairs for existing units now!

Visit ocap.ca for more information or contact OCAP at 416-925-6939 or ocap@tao.ca.





389 Church St, the only women-only apartment complex owned by TCHC, is being put up for sale .

Basics Editorial
Basics Issue #9 (May 2008)

TCHC website shows this artist’s rendition of Phase 1 of “Revitalization” in Regent Park at Dundas and Parliament.




The future of Toronto’s social housing – how much there will be, where it will be located – will depend on the struggle of the people in Toronto’s social housing communities to demand and fight for better housing.

Residents of Lawrence Heights should brace themselves for the propaganda campaign that TCHC is set to unleash on them throughout the summer of 2008. Starting in May 2008, TCHC will choose its “Consultant Teams” which will begin deploying “community engagement” schemes in the community to get people on board with revitalization. Essentially, people can expect more of the same empty consultations with their “voices” falling on deaf ears.

On February 16, 2008 Basics Community Newsletter and a number of volunteer lawyers organized a legal clinic for residents at the Lawrence Heights Community Centre to fill-out Tenant Rights (T2) and Maintenance (T6) forms to the Ontario Landlord Tenant Board. Many families filled out these forms, with many more calling on Basics to help them with the forms in the weeks and months ahead.

However, TCHC and the Landlord Tenant Board have found sneaky ways to disqualify people’s applications.

In one case, a resident who filled out a claim to the Board was contacted by a TCHC representative asking the claimant to adjourn for another day. As nice as the tenant was, she agreed. Trustfully assuming that TCHC’s legal counsel would take care of the adjournment, the tenant in question did not show up for her trial. The tenant was sent a letter by the Landlord Tenant Board indicating that her case had been thrown out because she failed to show up. TCHC had successfully fooled the tenant from going to her own hearing.

Another claimant – who was also contacted by TCHC requesting adjournment – decided to ignore TCHC and proceed to the Landlord Tenant Board. Even though TCHC said that they could not attend, their legal counsel was in attendance. The results? The TCHC counsel told the adjudicator at the Board that they were not able to proceed with the case and that they had to reconvene another day. The Board went ahead and scheduled another hearing that was convenient for TCHC and not for the tenant. The tenant not only lost a day’s work, but she was sent home with a rescheduled hearing that she couldn’t even attend. In her words: “The system has failed me and this shows that the system doesn’t work for the working poor.”
There is a saying that goes: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, I’m the fool”. TCHC tenants must learn from the experiences of their neighbours and not be fooled by the duplicitous slumlord.

These cases demonstrate that the law works to the advantage of the powerful. So people need to build their own community power to take control of their communities. So long as communities wield hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in rent money, people need to recognize that they already have community has power; but that power can only be used if organized.

One option left for residents is to flood the Board with cases. It will be very difficult for them to throw out tens or even hundreds of cases, and if they do they’ll only prove to us even more how useless their laws are for the community. The other option, whether or not people use the Landlord or Tenant Board, is to organize themselves into united community organizations to take further actions

The time to organize ourselves is here! Fight back through the Landlord Tenant Board! And if that doesn’t work, let’s unite as a community to fight for better housing! Only the people united have the power to make “revitalization” benefit the people. Contact Basics for more information! ∗

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.

People's Organizing for Housing in Venezuela

by Hassan Reyes

Like many major cities in what North Americans and Europeans like to call the 'Third World', the streets in Caracas, Venezuela are busy and crowded people. However, Venezuela isn't your typical 'Third World' nation. There is a revolution going on and you can see it and feel it when you are there.

BASICS Community Newsletter and the Toronto-based Latino radio program Barrio Nuevo sent us to find out what’s really happening in Venezuela and link up with the movements and people that are advancing a people's program.

The corporate media in North America portrays the Venezuelan revolution as 'authoritarian' and 'violent', and it portrays the democratically-elected leader of the movement President Hugo Rafael Chavez as a 'dictator'. It’s not hard to understand why rich Americans and Canadians feel so threatened by what’s happening in Venezuela, with the nationalization of the oil sector and the support that the peoples’ movement is obtaining from its allies in government. Venezuelans have resurrected two words that the rich people of the world hoped they would never hear again - Revolution and Socialism.

On the streets the idea of revolution has become a tangible thing, with incredible murals and graffiti everywhere, everyone announcing support for Chavez, and actively organizing themselves at the local level.

We come to a building with a considerable amount of this sort of graffiti - the headquarters of the National Committee of the Homeless (Sin Techos). I walk in and ask for Layo Gascuez, a local leader who agreed to give BASICS an interview and tell us about their work. Layo takes us to the second floor of a 5-storey building being occupied by the movement. Once occupied, the residents (mostly single mothers, seniors and youth) are organized into committees to carry out the every aspect of living collectively, including communications and renovations. On this same floor, the movement is renovating a space that will be used as a free day care centre for the single mothers in the buildings.

"Currently, we have 75 occupied buildings in Caracas and 165 nationally" says Gascuez, pointing to other adjacent buildings also run through the collectives.

"The Sin Techos movement began 2003 when we in Venezuela really began to take on the oligarchy, who live off the misery of the people" explained Gascuez of how the movement started. "In our Bolivarian constitution, Article 103 prohibits all types of
monopolies and so we started doing occupations of buildings to break that monopoly."

So united and strong are the peoples’ collectives within the Sin Techos movement that Layo proudly brings us to another occupied 7 storey building - which has a McDonalds as the main tenant on the street level. "Whenever we need something done to the
building we go to their management and demand that they pay for it. They don't dare say no."

The Sin Techos form part of the Manifesto for People's Liberation (MLP) that brings together over 8000 collectives and mass organizations together in Venezuela and other parts of Latin American.

Layo also brings us to other collectives under the banner of the MLP - the Workers of Art Centre, and Soberana TV.

The Workers of Art also function within an occupied storefront that hadn't been in operation for years. The Centre offers quality space for poor artists to do
their trade (painting, sculptures etc.) that they can then sell in order to survive. The artists offer free classes to youth and people in the community.

Soberana TV is a media centre, where the Sin Techos produce a local newsletter and TV-quality media reports to offer to other local TV stations.

"Ultimately, the work we do stems from a necessity. There are families who are living on the streets. Just as our President Chavez has said we can’t keep on allowing a monopoly over land and to permit a situation where the most vulnerable and poor in our society are trampled on."



A political mural in Caracas that reads " Work amongst the people must be the first principle of any revolutionary".

Saving Toronto Housing from the Condo Developers

by John Clarke
of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty

Buildings owned by Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) are being run into the ground. A lack of repairs and maintenance has created a crisis for tenants. The neglect is so bad that housing stock will be lost for good if the situation is not turned around.

TCHC admits that they would have to spend some $300 million to get their properties up to a decent standard. The City of Toronto owns the housing but claims that Queen’s Park is to blame for the problems. Actually, both levels of Government want to see the housing deteriorate so that it can be given over to developers to build condos. The process of gentrification has already begun in Don Mount Court and Regent Park and they have planned to do it at Lawrence Heights and in many other places as well.

Tenants who lose their homes to condo developers are told that they will have the right to return once the rebuilding phase is over. However, in Regent Park, they are already reducing the rent-geared-to-income (RGI) portion of the new development. Middle class homeowners will want their property values increased. This means that RGI units will be eliminated over time, and the City knows it. The Regent Park model is a blueprint for destroying public housing.

Obviously, the more the City can run down TCHC communities, the easier it is to hand them over to the condo developers. Buildings pass the point where they can be fixed up and tenants give up on them.

Over the last months, having received many calls from angry TCHC tenants, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) has taken up the fight against their abusive landlord. We have taken action to demand repairs for families and communities. We’ve organized community meetings, petitions and delegations to TCHC offices. This work has led to some important successes. We have gone around the City photographing and documenting the shameful conditions that many TCH tenants have to endure and will use this to expose TCHC as a slum landlord. We realize, however, that the developers and their political friends at City Hall will not be stopped unless can find a very serious way to stand up to them.

Currently, OCAP is taking a letter into TCHC communities that tenants can sign. It includes a fill-in portion in which the tenant explains the problems with her/his unit and how long they have been going on. The letter then informs TCHC that they are expected to meet their responsibilities as a landlord and fix the unit to a decent standard. If this is not done, however, the tenant says that it may be necessary to use rent money to do those repairs.
If you would like to sign the ‘rent for repairs’ letter or help organize in your community to challenge the neglect and defend it from the developers, then call OCAP today. ∗

ONTARIO COALITION AGAINST POVERTY (OCAP)
416-925-6939 www.ocap.ca

Force TCHC to Carry Out Repairs.. Now!

Community Lawyers, BASICS, and OCAP to Set Up Free Legal Clinic to Help Tenants Force TCHC Repairs

On Sunday, December 9, Lawrence Heights residents attended an event held by Basics Community Newsletter at the Lawrence Heights Community Centre. One of the main topics discussed at the event was the lack of maintenance in TCHC units and the ways in which TCHC residents can use grass-roots organizing as a way to challenge the illegal, substandard conditions of social housing.

One of the guest lawyers at the event, Sarah Shartal, spoke to the current lawsuit that her firm has filed against TCHC on behalf of several thousand tenants. The suit is seeking to remedy all TCHC tenants who have waited more than two weeks for repairs with a payment of $1000, and also to force TCHC to carry out the backlog of repairs which is estimated at $300 million.
However, Shartal argued, the lawsuit is going to take three to five years to complete, and TCHC residents shouldn’t have to suffer in the meantime in their sub-standard, dilapidated units. As an alternative in the short term, Shartal told residents about other means that could be individually applied to force TCHC to get repairs done immediately. There are two forms available at the Landlord and Tenant Board that tenants can fill out to challenge substandard living conditions.

The T2 form, called the “Application About Tenant Rights”, applies to tenants facing situations where “the landlord...interfered with your reasonable enjoyment of the rental unit”, which can apply to any tenant suffering from poor maintenance, and in cases where “the landlord...withheld or interfered with vital services”, such as “hot or cold water, and the provision of heat from September 1st to June 15.”

The T6 Form, “Tenant Application About Maintenance”, determines whether the “landlord failed to repair or maintain the rental unit or complex or failed to comply with health, safety, housing or maintenance standards.” Both the T2 and T6 processes have their own provisions for forcing the landlord to recompensate the tenant or carry out repairs.

Unfortunately, Shartal noted, the T6 form requires a $45 deposit (which is returned if your case is successful), and also direct photographic evidence of the maintenance issue. Shartal asserted that if evidence is submitted to the Housing Tribunal proving the validity of the maintenance issue, and if the tenant wins the case, TCHC is forced to carry out repairs within two weeks.

However, the T2 and the T6 forms are very tricky to fill out and many peoples’ applications are denied for very minor errors. To ensure residents aren’t manipulated and abused by the system any further in filling out these forms, Basics Community Newsletter, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and the Roach, Schwartz, and Associates law firm are teaming up to hold a free Legal Clinic to help residents fill them out (see ad below). If you are a tenant who needs someone to come out to your unit and take pictures of maintenance problems, OCAP has agreed do so. In addition to submitting these pictures as evidence to the Housing Tribunal, OCAP will later be using the best (i.e. worst) of these images to do a photo exhibit at City Hall to show the representatives of the rich what working people’s living conditions are really like. To set up an appointment with OCAP, call 416-925-6939 or email them at ocap@tao.ca.

The struggle for better housing and a strong, united community is now underway. TCHC is talking about demolishing our communities with “revitalization” because social housing is in such disrepair. But it’s TCHC’s fault that housing is so bad. Residents must struggle to force TCHC to carry out repairs now – it’s a just fight for their legal right! Come out to February 16 to unite with your community and stand up for what is rightfully yours: Decent social housing for all working people now!

FREE LEGAL CLINIC

1pm - 4pm, Saturday, Feb 16
Lawrence Heights Community Centre
Learn how to fill out applications to the Landlord and Tenant Board to force TCHC to carry out repairs! Use the law to fight the slumlords!
Need pictures of problems in your unit?
Call OCAP at 416-925-6939 or email: ocap@tao.ca.
Other questions about this campaign?
Call Basics at 416-800-0823 or basics.canada@gmail.com

Residents Fight Parking Fee Hike

TCHC put on the defensive as community fights back against parking fee rip-off.

Since October 2007, TCHC and the City have been trying to unilaterally enforce their new parking regulations. In October and November TCHC held ‘consultations’ to ‘discuss’ their plans. These so-called ‘consultations’ ended up being a big sham with TCHC already decided on how they could steal yet more money from working people. The community had already dismissed these weak efforts disguised as ‘consultations,’ knowing that TCHC and the City did not have their interests in mind.
Instead, because of wider community pressure and because TCHC saw the community coming together to demand their rights at the November 21st meeting, they backed off of charging those with detached units $45/month for parking. They will still charge other tenants $45/month for parking as well as $5 a night for visitors. In addition, TCHC revealed that they will no longer allow school buses to be parked on TCHC property. They will only be allowed in school parking lots. The fact that many women in the community drive school buses and that schools are not in close proximity to all of the TCHC units in Lawrence Heights have raised great concern. If this is enforced, these women will have to wake up in the middle of the night in order to warm up their buses and pick up the children on time to go to school.
Residents were not satisfied with this weak attempt of TCHC to appease what they saw as a bunch of angry tenants. Contrary to this image, since November, residents and their supporters have been circulating a petition that calls for:
• unlimited visitor parking passes for all tenants,
• monthly rent to include parking as with other TCHC communities,
• 0% displacement of the community under whatever circumstances,
• TCHC to stop breaking the law and carry out repairs now,
• hydro to be included in the monthly rent.
Since the petition has been circulating, residents have researched the issue of parking in TCHC communities and have found out that there is a North York bylaw prohibiting apartment building owners from charging for visitor parking. Toronto’s Licensing and Standards Committee has informed Toronto Police Services that officers should not enforce paid-parking violations on apartment lots.
Join residents in their efforts to know and enforce their rights. Sign the petition when it comes to your door and tell your neighbours about it! 

Fatal Fires Break Out in TCHC Buildings

In the space of just over two weeks there have been two fatal fires in TCHC units. On December 22nd 2007, a mother and her two children perished when their townhouse near Keele St. and Sheppherd Ave. burnt to the ground. The Ontario fire marshall said that there were two fire alarms in the unit. According to TCHC, the alarms had recently passed an inspection and they were programmed to notify TCHC if they were not working. This obviously did not happen. On January 7th 2008, in the same area in another TCHC building, a 74-year old man died and 5 others were treated for smoke inhalation after a 3-alarm fire broke out in his 1st floor unit. The Ontario fire marshall said that if sprinklers were installed in both cases, the fires could have been prevented.

New Orleans Residents Fight Demolitions

Residents of New Orleans are fighting a plan approved by New Orleans City Council to demolish 4,500 public housing units. Going along with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the City is arguing that it wants to replace units damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 with new mixed-income housing.
Critics of the plan have argued it would further restrict the stock of affordable housing, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
“It is beyond callous, and can only be seen as malicious discrimination,” said Kali Akuno of the Coalition to Stop the Demolition. “It is an unabashed attempt to eliminate the black population of New Orleans.”
In December, police used pepper spray and stun guns on workers and residents who came to City Hall to protest the proposal to destroy housing. Several people were treated for the effects of the pepper spray.
Politicians and supporters of the planned demolition argue developers will take advantage of tax breaks and build new neighbourhoods with portions of low-income housing. These arguments were similar to those used at Regent Park, where demolition has started in order to make way for ‘mixed income’ housing which will have some 400-500 less subsidized rental units.

The Future of Lawrence Heights: “Revitalization” or Gentrification?

For some time now, TCHC residents have been told that they can expect better housing through “revitalization”. But many fear that this will mean displacement of the community, as was the case in Regent Park.

In the mean time, TCHC is failing to carry out everyday repairs to its units. And while the City continues to try to TAKE from the community, like when they tried to shut down the community centre on Mondays, now TCHC wants to increase parking rates across the community.

But the people are organizing and fighting back!

TCHC is being sued for almost $500,000,000 on behalf of TCHC residents across Toronto; people protested against the community centre closedowns back in September; TCHC residents have protested loudly against any increase in the parking charges; and people are beginning to organize against “revitalization”.

Come to the following event to hear the people and organizations fighting back against TCHC:
-N. Zahra, Basics Community Newspaper
-John Clarke, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)
-Sarah Shartel, the lawyer handling the case against TCHC
...and speakers from Regent Park and Lawrence Heights to speak on their own experiences

Sunday, December 9, 6 - 8 pm
Lawrence Heights Community Centre

LAWRENCE HEIGHTS RESIDENTS FIGHT PARKING CASH GRAB!

TCHC trying to charge tenants with detached homes and visitors for parking

On Thursday October 25th, 2007 TCHC held a ‘consultation’ to discuss plans to charge tenants with detached homes with driveways monthly parking fees. Also on the table was the plan to charge overnight visitors $5 per night for parking. This so-called ‘consulation’ ended up being a sham with TCHC already decided on how they could steal yet more money from working people.

Residents came ready with legitimate questions and concerns about an initiative that they rightly saw as harmful and unfair. Among the major issues raised was the fact that the driveways of TCHC detached houses aremaintained by the tenants and not by TCHC. Concerned residents asked why they should have to pay for a space that they work so hard to maintain with no help from their slumlord. Also at issue was the increase in unfair ticketing of visitors. Many residents who have been ticketed unfairly multiple times were dismissed by the TCHC manager who claimed that they were lying. Along similar lines, some of the longest-standing residents complained about having to pay the new parking fees despite having parking included in their leases when they signed them over twenty years ago.

All of these concerns and more were repeatedly dismissed by the TCHC manager. Also in attendance was city councillor Howard Moscoe who was also dismissive of residents’ concerns. The atitudes of the TCHC manager and Moscoe were shameful in the face of such valid concerns. The residents recognized that the ‘consultation’ was indeed a sham very quickly and saw through both of them, knowing full well that neither had the community’s best interests in mind.

Through their persistent questioning of the TCHC parking policy, the residents successfully managed to get TCHC to back down from immediate implementation of the policy. The manager agreed to suspend parking enforcement until December 31st, 2007 while a committee of 7 people came up with a revised proposal. Realizing that this was only done to appease the residents and that 7 people chosen by TCHC could not possibly represent the interests of the community, a number of residents decided to come together to organize against city-backed TCHC attempts to destroy Lawrence Heights by making peoples’ lives harder. They rightly identified this latest TCHC scheme as part of the larger project of the destruction of the working-class community of Lawrence Heights through the so-called ‘revitaliztion.’

Since this first meeting, TCHC held another ‘consultation’ that took place on Wedensday November 21, 2008. There was no sign of the 7 member committee that they promised to convene. Instead, because of community pressure, they unitlaterally decided to not charge tenants with detached homes with driveways but insisted that visitors had to pay for overnight parking. This unilateral decision is still seen as unnacceptable to the community.

Residents have since come together to draft a petition refusing to accept TCHC’s proposed parking plan, instead suggesting that parking fees be lowered to $30 for everyone and that residents have unlimited visitor parking passes. In addition the petition calls for 0% displacement through ‘revitalization’ and that TCHC stop breaking the law and carry out all outstanding repairs.

Join these courageous residents in their refusal to see the community of Lawrence Heights destroyed!

TCHC Slapped With Class Action Lawsuit

Multimillion dollar suit for “massive violation of basic legal rights”.

TCHC is Canada’s largest landlord, with $5 billion worth of assets consisting of about 60,000 residential units, home to about 165,000 tenants. And with TCHC failing to maintain many of its units in accordance with standard building codes and municipal by-laws, then TCHC is Canada’s largest slumlord. This is the premise of the multimillion dollar class-action lawsuit that TCHC has just been slapped with. As the lawyer Sarah Shartal who is handling the case has asked, “Why are the courts allowing the public sector landlords to be slumlords?…All we’re saying is building codes and municipal bylaws apply to TCHC.”

The law firm Roach, Schwartz, & Associates is launching the lawsuit on behalf of several thousand TCHC tenants whose units are in ill-shape and are receiving little help from TCHC. The suit will seek a payment of $1000 to every tenant who has had to wait for more than two weeks for basic repairs, and an order for all units be brought up to code within six months.

TCHC is currently facing a $300 million repairs backlog. With the City of Toronto strapped for cash (see “Big Cuts…” article in this issue) and the Province hoarding its $2.3 billion budget surplus, it is no wonder that the TCHC is trying ‘revitalize’ by selling of prime real estate like Lawrence Heights to condo developers in order to raise some funds.

Poor maintenance, the gutting of social services (like the recent cuts to Toronto libraries and community centres), and the ‘revitalization’ – these have all been ways for the City of Toronto to ‘balance its budget’ in a time of a serious budget crisis. To be fair though, it is the Province that is mostly to blame. In the 1990s, Ontario Premier Mike Harris downloaded the responsibility for about $500 million in services to the City, but never handed over the extra money to cover those new expenses. And while it was a Conservative government who put these measures into efect, the current Liberal government has done nothing to compensate Toronto. So, at the end of it all, working-class Torontonians are paying more and getting less. But people are standing-up and ighting back. With TCHC residents already expressing opposition to the planned demolition of Lawrence Heights (what TCHC has been calling ‘revitalization’), and with people all across Toronto rallying against the closure of their community centres and libraries, the lawsuit against TCHC opens up a new front in TCHC residents’ fight against their Toronto slumlord and the ongoing indiference of the Provincial government.

RESIDENTS TELL BASICS: WE NEED TO ORGANIZE!

On Saturday 2nd June, Basics community activists organized a meeting of members of the Lawrence Heights community to discuss housing conditions, the City’s proposed “revitalization” of the neighbourhood and organize a response to issues faced by the community.

Since the winter months, Basics activists conducted door-to-door surveys with residents that outlined the unacceptable living conditions and issues brought on by the negligence of the landlord – Toronto Community Housing Corporation.

• 94% of those surveyed said that building conditions in TCHC housing units in Lawrence Heights are average to poor

• 79% said that TCHC responses to requests for maintenance or repairs is average to poor, including delays and long wait times before problems are fixed (if they ever are)

• Over 50% stated that TCHC and security officials do NOT treat people with respect

• 75% said that they have little say in what goes on in the community

The delayed and unmet repairs, disempowerment and disrespect faced by tenants is also at the heart of the issue on the so called “revitalization”. Several residents present at the meeting reported that TCHC representatives told them that no repairs would be done in Lawrence Heights units there is no value in making repairs to an area that will be demolished in the near future through the “revitalization.”

The meeting also addressed the results of the Regent Park “revitalization” which resulted in displacement of the community, a reduction of 400 subsidized units and possible health hazards (construction debris) for the remaining community. For TCHC to continue to try to tell residents that ‘there is no plan’ and that ‘they will be listened to’ in the face of this sort of information shows that they are simply continuing their record of ignoring tenants and putting tenant needs behind the company agenda.

Community members at the meeting heard about examples of successful tenants and residents associations in addressing the issues of the community. Community members agreed to move to organize self directed, independent Residents’ Association that is not affiliated with TCHC.

Only with an independent and united body will TCHC residents be able to make improvements to housing conditions, reduce wait times for repairs, demand accountability to residents during the City’s “revitalization” and address issues that the community faces.

Lawrence Heights: Residents Speak Out!

AMAL is a 23 yr-old single parent with two children living in Lawrence Heights.

Amal: I used to live in Regent Park, so when you talk about revitalization…Regent Park’s the first thing I think about. That’s why I ended up living at Lawrence Heights, so when I think about Revitalization, I think about moving.

I think Lawrence Heights is an excellent location, if this was going to be revitalized and made into houses that you can buy and own it would be excellent—and be in the millions. If you look at the location where we’re at, houses are up to $500,000. So in terms of revitalization I just think they’re kicking the poor out…to communities that don’t have that much services; in terms of TTC, that accessible.

[The “revitalization] is a bad thing, in the sense that not a lot of people will come back to the community. I think a lot of people are going to be kicked out to other communities that are really far and not accessible to services. Whereas in Lawrence Heights we have that privilege: we have two subway stations; we have two big malls; we have a library. So I think we’re getting kicked out and for me personally, living at Regent Park, coming to Lawrence Heights and now hearing revitalization, I think it’s the further and further I move out. I can say for my family that we don’t have a choice. Where is home for us? Home is a place where you have decisions and you can always come back, but that’s not happening. We constantly have to be moving because of revitalization.

And not only that, living at Regent Park you come to find out that only half the houses that are going to be revitalized are going into subsidized units—half! If not half then less than half.

[Current TCHC estimates are that only one third of units will be rent geared to income! - editor.]

BASICS: How will this affect the Somali community? With revitalization will people be split up?

AMAL: I think with anybody that would happen, not only Somali. People who’ve been raised here knowing their families and what not, have to leave…I have to emphasize: we have no choice in the matter. The only thing you have a choice in is the next place that you choose to live in. So that disturbs me. I think that’s the one thing people don’t look at.

BASICS: If it was your choice what would you make happen?

AMAL: Well one thing I would have is—upgrade these houses. These houses haven’t been upgraded from God knows when. We live in an environment that is infested with cockroaches, with rats. And for the parents of Lawrence Heights I would want to change that so that it would have more of a “home” feeling. More of a status that you feel comfortable living in subsidized housing.

BASICS: Did any one really consult you about the redevelopment?

AMAL: No. I just know that it’s going to happen. Nobody got to vote on it. It’s not a choice and that’s what disturbs me. Being a person that is marginalized already and TCHC with their approach as “community-based” and “tenants have rights” when in fact we don’t, and can’t even express the fact that we don’t want to move.

TANISHA is a 20 year-old 1st-year student at York University who grew up in Lawrence Heights.

TANISHA: Revitalization is a hot topic right now because people are starting to hear about it. However, I know that this is a project that has been planned for years now. So it’s weird to me that the actual residents who have been living here for years are just hearing about it. I don’t feel that we are given enough opportunities to get involved and have our voices heard when it comes to the revitalization project and what’s gonna be happening to our houses. These are houses we’ve been living in for years. These are houses that we’ve raised our children in. And knowing that they will be teared down soon, and knowing that we might have to move elsewhere, there’s just too many questions that are not being answered. And too many loopholes within the planning process, according to the residents here. Because no one is really talking to us and giving us straight forward answers about what is happening.

BASICS: Do you think a resident’s association could be formed out of this problem?

TANISHA: I can definitely see something like that, maybe a resident organization. But more specifically a youth forum or organization. Because, believe it or not, the youth here take a significant role among the population of Lawrence Heights and we have very strong opinions that need to be heard. So it would be nice to have a youth forum in particular, that creates an outlet for youth to have a say in revitalization.

The number one fear personally, is our sense of family that we have developed over such a long period of time now, is going to be broken. That security and knowing we all know each other and take care of each other here in Lawrence Heights, is going to be broken up. Because we will be sent to different areas of Toronto and our community won’t be as tight-knit as it is now and has been. Regardless of the Somali, Caribbean, Eritrean, or Indian youths, we are all one community and everyone takes care of each other.

Here in Lawrence Heights because many of the members have known each other for such a long time, we know our neighbours, we know our neighbours children, we have a common set of values where we all kind of think alike or we experience the same issues as other members of our community. And I just feel with the revitalization, having an influx of so many different people coming in from different areas; from different socio-economic backgrounds, there’s gonna be too many people with too many different sets of values. And the issues that we might be facing, the new people might not have faced those issues and vice versa.

Gentrification is all I have to say. Everyone should look that word up. With revitalization, there is a lot of economic profit that will be made for the city and for other organizations as part of the development and planning process. And I hope that the message gets out that this community is about so much more than just poverty, money or economics. There’s a lot of talent in this community, there’s a lot of artists in this community, there’s a strong sense of family.

Organize the block for better housing!

Toronto Community Housing Corporation has begun a series of ‘consultations’ around proposed plans to tear down and re-build Lawrence Heights, in a similar way as was done in Regent Park.

There is no question that Lawrence Heights needs repairs and investment from government. However, Lawrence Heights residents should be active and should ask questions to find out how this will TRULY impact working people of Lawrence Heights:

Where will people be moved to?

In the case of Regent Park, residents were given the option of either staying in Regent and moving houses, going to another TCHC property, or getting out of TCHC all together. Some people had to move as far as Hamilton. Where will people be forced to move?

Will TCHC, or another level of government pay for moving expenses?

Moving is a difficult and expensive process. Moving can easily cost a few hundred dollars plus whatever costs are associated with missing work. Will residents have to pay for this out of their own pocket?

Are the number of Rent-Geared to income housing going to be increased?

In Chicago, similar public housing re-developments have lead to a decrease in the real number of RGI units. In Regent, the number of RGI units has stayed the same.

Are families going to have more space in the proposed new development?

The Regent Park redevelopment was expressedly designed to pack people into a tighter space. Since Lawrence Heights is less dense than Regent, is TCHC going to try and do the same at Lawrence Heights?

Are there going to be measures taken to ensure that reconstruction does not have negative affects for the health of the community?

Demolition can release a lot of debris into the air, and with old buildings there may be building materials that can have detrimental affects on the health of people in the community.

Is there guaranteed funding for the reconstruction, and what are the consequences of money being pulled mid way through?
The Federal government has recently made it clear that they will only give half of the $2.2 Billion that they had previous promised the Provincial government for housing. The Provincial government in turn is not releasing any of that money to the City, much of which is earmarked for Regent Park.
What will happen if something similar happens? Will people be pushed out and more space be turned over to condo developers?

Will re-development make TCHC more responsive to the community?

In every TCHC block, working people know about the lack of responsiveness of TCHC when it comes to repairs and security. The TCHC tenant representative organs have little power to influence things so that this continues.

So how will this re-development make Toronto a better landlord?

Many other questions need to be asked about how this may impact the community, and any proposals for re-development have to answer these questions.

The Community also needs local jobs and economic development that can be achieved if plans for re-development incorporate these through measures such as setting up micro-credit investment to give locals first crack at setting up bakeries and other small business.

Working people of Lawrence Heights cannot afford to sleep on this issue. We have to assert ourselves and demand that our needs be addressed, otherwise the so-called ‘consultations’ will be little more than public relations campaigns for the plans that TCHC and others already have.

* Organize the block!
* Demand Better, More affordable housing!
* Make TCHC act on repairs

Urban Sprawl and Expanding Waistlines

A new Statistics Canada study has revealed that adults who live in cities are less likely to be obese than those who lived in outlying areas.

"as the size of the city increased, the likelihood of being obese fell. In CMAs with a population of at least 2 million (Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver) only 17% of adults were obese. The comparable figure for CMAs with a population of 100,000 to 2 million was 24%. In urban centres with populations of 10,000 to 100,000, 30% of adults were obese."

While the diet and fitness industry promotes individual solutions to obesity through the consumption of high-priced "specialty" foods (low-carb being the latest craze) or purchasing a whole gammut of excercise equipment (exercise balls, palates bands, etc.), the real solution to obesity is pro-people urban planning. Larger numbers of poor and working class are being pushed out of downtown Toronto by the lack of affordable housing into the suburbs, where there is less access to public transit, recreation facilities, or local shops within walking distance. The government let the developers make a killing off of urban sprawl, but the health of the people is being sacrificed in the process.

Wage Still Too Low! Rent Still Too High!

Canadian politics seem to have been dominated by a few, select issues in the last couple of years. While these social topics get played up by media and others, the basic issues that affect most people get little attention.

Take for example rent and pay. Every person in Toronto, and indeed in World, needs a place to live and a way to pay for it. For too long, working people in Toronto have been faced with the dilemma of having to pay exorbitant rents on low wages.

Since both of these rent and wages are dependant on government policy in Ontario, as the provincial government sets the minimum wages and sets how much rent can be increased by (or can order rents to be frozen, meaning not increased), it is almost astounding that there has been so little mention of these issues in the media or by the mainstream political parties at election time or elsewhere.

However, it isn’t that surprising when realizing how the lack of public spotlight on these issues has lead to making working people poorer. During the early years of the Harris Conservatives, a lot of noise was made (and with justification) about the increases in rents that were taking place. A report by the Canadian Mortgage and
Housing Corporation in 2003 revealed that between 1993 – 2003, rents had increased
41% overall in the GTA. One can certainly assume that this figure is higher, since this report was based on figures voluntarily submitted by landlords!

Similarly, many pointed to the lack of increase to the already too low minimum wage throughout this period, which remained at a measly $6.75/ hr. The Liberals took advantage of the anger around the affect that these issues were having on working people and promised to bring solutions. In reality though, they have continued the policies that people in Ontario voted them to overturn.

The Liberals have refused to institute rent freezes, have cut into social assistance and have not addressed the issue of living wages for many workers and their families.
Minimum wage isn’t only an issue for those who make it, as a low minimum wage depresses the wages of the rest of the population. While an estimated 621 000 people in Canada work on or below a minimum wage, more than 1.2 Million workers in Ontario worked in jobs that paid below the poverty level in 2000.

McGuinty and his cronies argue that their meager increases to the minimum wage, which will be up to $8/hr by the end of 2008, are a solution to this problem. Their math doesn’t add up! Earning $8/hr for 40hrs per week, equals a before-tax total of $320 dollars per week. This would mean that the gross amount of money earned by a worker on minimum wage for a month would be $1280 before taxes.

With huge waiting lists for subsidized housing in the City and with the average cost of a two bedroom apartment at $1027 per month, there are thousands of Toronto families living cheque to cheque. In a 2005 submission to the government, the Vanier Institute of the Family said the minimum wage in now “not even close” to being a living wage, and added that “even two minimum wages in a household will not protect its children from the short-term and long-term consequences of poverty.”

Indeed, taking into account the average cost of a two bedroom apartment and factoring in minimum $524 grocery allowance needed by a family according to Toronto Public Health, a $99.75 MetroPass to commute to work, plus ‘luxuries’ such as clothes and home supplies, a living wage cannot be lower that $14/hr!

Implementing an actual living wage has a positive ripple effect on the economy, as people have more disposable income to spend. Even many economist agree that this is will have a positive effect on the economy. So why is it that there has been so little action on this? Truth is companies have an interest in keeping wages down, and keeping people poor. Having low minimum wages coupled with unemployment means that overall wages can be kept low, and people will still work for them because they need to try and provide for themselves and their families. In short, low minimum wages means more profits for big businesses and the people who own them.

Moreover, it must be said that most politicians either have no idea what the reality of most working people is, or simply don’t care. This is even reflected in the bureaucracies of the state. In a report on poverty, the Chief Statistician of Canada declared that in terms of income, “being significantly worse off than the average does not necessarily mean that one is poor.”

A huge portion of working people, particularly those in cities and immigrants, do not vote and are not the sources of campaign donations for the elections campaigns of those sitting in Queen’s Park or Parliament Hill. With City elections around the corner, and Provincial elections next year, those of us who know this reality need to create movements that will ensure that these issues are front and center.

Rents must be immediately frozen. Minimum wage must be increased to living wage levels of no less than $14/hr in order to actually address to the main problems that working people face every day!

Regent Park: Renaissance or Rip Off?

400 Households have been demolished and almost 1200 residents have been relocated. With the new developer yet to be announced as of publication, it isn’t clear whether the new Stephen Harper government will even follow through on the previous arrangements for Federal funding to urban centres. That’s no small problem when one considers that the entire redevelopment plan concocted by the Toronto Community Housing Corporation and City Hall, depends on 90 million dollars in Provincial and Federal funding. Many remain justifiably skeptical about the motives behind this. As it stands, the whole plan will actually reduce the number of rent geared to income units in Regent, and turn over sections of the Park to private condo developers and commercial businesses.

The first phase is no exception as most of the units built will be for market rate sale. While the idea of a new look and some building upgrades has appeal, was it really necessary to sneak in a back door partial gentrification? Is this the pill we are supposed to swallow just in order to get building disrepair addressed? It’s high time, and still not too late for an organized community response.