Press Hits

Dozens of tenants at an apartment building in Ottawa’s Little Italy say they’ve been left scrambling after receiving notice they may be required to vacate by the end of August, due to widespread mould and a pending court decision. The building at 101 Champagne Avenue South has been under court-ordered receivership since February, after its owner Ashcroft Homes Group ran into financial trouble. The company declined further comment, citing ongoing legal proceedings. Tenants are now organizing with the help of advocacy group ACORN, which says it will be going door to door this week to inform residents of their rights.

ACORN Halifax held a rally to launch a heat and housing survey. The survey aims to collect tenant information in the city’s north end around affordability, the cost of heat and cooling, and the rising cost of living. Angela Capobianco reports.

With a decade-long repair backlog and thousands of complaints, 500 Dawes Road has become one of Toronto’s most notorious rental buildings. Brandon Choghri joins Mayor Olivia Chow on a tour, as she vows to fix the apartments plagued with issues.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow toured a troubled apartment building with tenants who say their landlord has long ignored repair orders. Chow is vowing action and pushing for a broader plan to hold landlords accountable. Matthew Bingley reports.

After visiting Patricia Stanford and other tenants in one of Toronto’s most notorious rental buildings, Mayor Olivia Chow vowed Tuesday to get help for her and other people living in “unacceptable” conditions. “Half of the City of Toronto are tenants, they are not homeowners,” Chow said before tenants’ rights group ACORN gave her a tour of 500 Dawes Road, an apartment tower in East York. “They have the right to live a decent life in a clean, safe environment and I’m going to support the tenants so they don’t feel so alone.” Stanford was one of three residents on different floors visited by Chow. Most belongings in her 11th floor apartment were in plastic bags to keep them away from rodents who invaded the unit last year, she said, and chew things, urinate and defecate despite spring traps throughout the small unit. Council years ago rejected a push for the mandatory posting of red, yellow and green signs in building lobbies amid concerns they would stigmatize the residents of buildings with poor maintenance records. Chow, who seconded Matlow’s motion, said she agrees with ACORN that the signs could pressure landlords to improve the cleanliness and safety of their buildings to avoid yellow or red signs that could scare away tenants.

As an Ottawa MPP puts forward a plan to require Ontario landlords to provide renters with air conditioning, one representative for local landlords says building owners will need support for expensive and time-consuming upgrades. Youssouf has worked with the City of Ottawa on this issue for the Ottawa branch of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Landlords have a responsibility to work with those levels of government too, he argued, so that the costs aren’t simply passed down to those who can least afford them: the renters. “We know that landlords are rich people,” he said, adding that even those who own a small or old building are “well-off. If they invest in their buildings and their homes, it’s good for them in the long run and it’s good for the people who live there.”