Hello… These are the compiled notes, not all, but much of what was written, of course, when Joseph spoke at City Hall in front of City Council that was off the cuff, but the months of notemaking beforehand helped us to guide what he was going to say in the 5 minutes max that people are given to make their case…
The crux of the matter was that the residential tenancies Act, though rewritten, had not included a rewrite of monies given to tenant’s if they were asked to leave in order for a giant condo to be built on their home…So if you were a low income renter, the law merely stated that 3 months rent was due- Imagine living in a place for 30 years, at a low income rent, & being kicked out, try finding a similar place to live in, at the same rent? ! Almost impossible right? In fact, impossible…In New York btw, 60 THOUSAND dollars is the minimum that a low income renter gets paid by a developer if the renter is asked to leave…60 THOUSAND dollars!
In Toronto, say you are a low income renter…As the Residential Tenancies Act now stands, you may get 3 months rent if you are kicked out & your building demolished to make way for a condo…3 months rent…After 30 years in one home, this renter (our neighbour) was offered 3 months rent…Now 3 months rent, to a low income renter, might be, hmmm, 1300 dollars more or less…If you live on welfare, you can afford about 435 dollars a month… Must include utilities or you are out of your league…If you managed to get a home at that rate well, you must have moved in, well, 30 years ago…So a developer wants you to move out & offers you 1300 dollars to move…It’ll cost you that just to do the move…Now how are you going to find a home that equals the grandeur of the one you have had for 30 years at that low low rate? Impossible…You will not be able to afford anything…Nothing…Nothing at all…
Get the picture?
To make matters worse, the RTA (Residential tenancies Act), the RTA says ONLY rental dwellings with low income renters that have SIX renters qualify…Our neighbour lived in a dwelling with FOUR renters only…So legally the law ignored her & her neighbours…
So when Joseph spoke at City Council, he said that an exception should be made in the RTA, in the ACT, to allow compensation for a 4 dwelling low income rental home, though the RTAct said SIX was necessary…
After much hemming & hawing, the exemption was passed…Ok, so now we had proved that our neighbour was legally entitled to compensation…
At this point, our neighbour went directly to the developer, who I had pointed out to her…These guys are hard to find, but I had done a visual search of online photos & had found a photo of our guy…When I saw him at City Hall I identified him to her…
She approached him in the hall…Told him her life story…he said how much do you want? She said 20 thousand…he said I’ll give you 10…She said 15 thousand…DEAL…They shook on it with the agreement she had to be out of her home before December 31st 2010…
Guess what Joseph & I were doing on New Year’s Eve? Moving boxes…
She got her 15 thousand dollar cheque later…Couldn’t get an apartment…Nothing… Moved in with her boyfriend’s parents & him…(when I write boyfriend, don’t get me wrong, this person was a gardener by profession looking to get into something less manual due to age…)
Our neighbour survived… The documents attached are the notes I made to try to find arguments to help her…(I attached several pdf files together to put all this into one big document, but ended up repeating due to the fact that comments didn’t appear in the first run- so you will notice some of the content repeats, just skim over it…It is unedited- I didn’t have time…The developers had a 3 year head start & we were only asked to help when it got bad, late…sorry for some of the profanity…the french…off colour remarks…But when you brainstorm it all must go in…)
I post this so that others may get ideas on how to block overdensification of their own communities…Hope this helps…Sometimes just writing it all out & posting it online clarifies your own strategy…I encourage those in similar battles to communicate…Communication is powerful…Good luck…Please keep the confidential stuff confidential- it is not meant as gossip…