Stop Ford’s attack on tenants

Doug Ford has introduced another assault on tenant rights in Ontario. Bill 60, the so-called Fighting Delays Building Faster act is an omnibus bill that makes sweeping changes to 16 different pieces of legislation from construction planning to bike lanes to tenant rights.

 

After the bill was announced, Ford backtracked on the most egregious provisions on the housing file - those which would have effectively ended rent control for millions of tenants.  He did so because of a massive backlash from tenant groups that began organizing immediately.

 

But the bill - dubbed by tenant groups as the "Create Encampments Faster Act" - is still on the table and there are many elements that will make life much harder for people already squeezed by the soaring cost of housing.

 

Ford is notoriously in cahoots with the developers and landlords and there will need to be more organizing to end the attack.

 

The bill still changes a number of rules designed to support tenant rights and will make evictions faster and easier for landlords. The bill would mean more eviction sheriffs to speed up eviction enforcement, cutting tenant eviction notice periods in half, restricting tenants’ ability to postpone evictions in cases of emergency, and ending the ability of tenants to withhold rent in case of disrepair. It would also provide new legal justifications for removing tenants.

 

According to Acorn Ontario “These measures would devastate low and moderate-income tenants already struggling to keep a roof over their heads. The solution to the housing crisis is NOT to increase eviction rates.”

 

While Ford says that they are still deciding on which elements to keep in the bill, he is consulting with the Federation of Rental Housing Providers (a landlord lobby) which wants to eliminate tenant protections altogether.

 

The argument that the landlords are making is that there are - allegedly - thousands of empty housing units in Ontario that landlords refuse to rent out because they may have to deal with bad tenants that don’t pay rent.

 

There is no proof of this. There is, however, a mountain of proof that landlords already break existing rules to force tenants out. The system is stacked to benefit the developers, speculators and landlords already.

 

In the wake of the announced bill, tenant groups began organizing. The York South Weston tenants union - which has engaged in a series of successful rent strikes - held an organizing call with more than 500 people present. A few days later, Acorn Ontario held another organizing call with about the same number of people.

 

The message in both calls was the same - we cannot let Ford advance any of these new rules and we need to organize mass actions to not only defeat bill 60 but to push for better tenant protections.  

 

Indeed we need to push back on rules that Ford already has in place. For example, he has called for the Landlord Tenant Board in Ontario to fast track eviction hearings and slow hearings based on tenant complaints.

 

ACORN Canada President, Alejandra Ruiz-Vargas called for renters to organize across the province, “We’ve proven that tenant power can make governments back down — and we’re not stopping until rent control is strengthened so it can never be taken away again.”

 

Ford is undemocratically pushing for the bill to be fast tracked so the time to act is now!

 

How can you help fight Ford's attacks?

 

Get your organization to sign the open letterwith No Demovictionsto oppose bill 60

 

The York South Weston Tenant unionhas sign on letters and resources to fight back. Find info here