RENTERS TO TARGET MPP MICHAEL FORD’S OFFICE IN PUSH FOR STRICTER RENT CONTROLS

Toronto tenants’ advocates are gearing up for a rally Wednesday outside the constituency office of Michael Ford, Progressive Conservative MPP and Premier Doug Ford’s nephew.

It’s one of eight demonstrations that ACORN, a tenants’ rights group, has planned for Feb. 21, outside the offices of PC MPPs across the province.

They’re pushing for stricter new rent control guidelines that they say are necessary in the face of unprecedented pressures on renters in Ontario.

“Tenants are under attack,” said Marcia Stone, ACORN’s Weston district vice-chair. “Make it so that everyday people can afford to live in these buildings.”

Michael Ford is the MPP for York-South Weston. Stone says he was targeted because his riding has a large percentage of rental units.

According to Statistics Canada, just under half of the dwellings in Toronto are rental units, and about five per cent of those are in Ford’s riding.

Under current provincial rules, landlords can only hike rents by a maximum of 2.5 per cent. However, there’s no limit if the building was built after November 2018 or if a unit has been vacated.

ACORN says it’s also noticed a steep hike in the number of so-called Above Guideline Rent Increase (AGI) applications over the past couple of years.

AGI applications are filed by landlords who want to charge more than a 2.5 per cent increase.

If a landlord can prove a higher increase is justified by improvements made to the building — things like renovations to a parking garage, updating a lobby or beefing up security — they can increase monthly rents by up to 5.5 per cent.

But ACORN organizers say all units, whether newly built or newly vacant, should be subject to rent controls. They’re also calling for a freeze on AGIs.

The number of AGI applications received by the province’s Landlord and Tenants Board (LTB) rose from 404 in the 2020-2021 fiscal year to 613 in 2021-2022 and 605 in 2022-2023, according to Tribunal Ontario’s 2022-2023 annual report.

Landlords vs. tenants

Too often, ACORN says landlords are making minimal upgrades, then applying for an AGI. Although the LTB doesn’t provide those numbers, ACORN executives say that anecdotally they are hearing applications are rarely turned down.

Barrington Lue Sang, a paralegal who specializes in working with landlords, disputes that.

“I think if you ask any landlord who’s gone to the LTB, they would differ in that opinion,” he said. “The board’s main purpose is to protect tenants.”

Sang says the lack of rent controls on buildings built after 2018 is a guideline worth keeping  because it acts as an incentive for developers to build new rental housing.

“It definitely works,” he said.

A spokesperson for Michael Ford, minister of citizenship and multiculturalism, told CBC Toronto in an email that the Ford government’s policies have led to unprecedented growth in the number of new builds, with Ontario seeing a record 19,000 new rental units built in 2023.

“We will continue to take meaningful action to make housing more attainable for hardworking people of Ontario, while making it easier to build more houses and rental units to address the ongoing supply crisis,” the spokesperson said in the statement.

Ford’s spokesperson also wrote that the government has “strengthened protections against evictions due to renovations, demolitions and for a landlord’s own use.”

From the three-bedroom apartment he shares with his parents in Ford’s riding, Michael Cuadra says he isn’t experiencing a system that’s fair to tenants.

Cuadra says he will be at Wednesday’s rally because, while he’s currently paying $1,575 a month, he was recently notified by his landlord that his rent will be going up to $1,650 thanks to an AGI.

Cuadra says the grounds for the AGI were roof and elevator repairs.

“There has to be some sort of balance between how much they can jack up my rent and being able to keep the building in good order,” he said.

“It feels like they get all the advantages and the benefits of it, and I’m left picking up the bill.”