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*** COMMUNITY INSPECTION *** Hundreds of working families at 103 & 105 West Lodge apartments in Parkdale are facing eviction and homelessness. After a tenant rent strike in 1990, the City ordered the slumlord, Mr. Wynn, to repair two notoriously bad apartment buildings. For 10 years the landlord was prohibited from charging yearly rent increases. The City of Toronto recently signed off the decade-old work orders allowing the landlord to use the "maximum rent" provision in the so-called 'Tenant Protection Act' to stack the rent increases and charge them all at once, starting November 1st. Tenant's requests for repairs are continually ignored, while the city inspectors are "too busy" (or too friendly with Mr. Wynn) to come and inspect the buildings again. Not surprisingly a large segment of the tenants can not afford a 30-50% rent increase. In effect, the landlord is attempting to clear the building of low-income tenants so he can charge even higher rents. Tenants at West Lodge, with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, have invited community leaders to come to the buildings and inspect the apartments themselves. Community leaders from social justice organizations, churches and unions will talk with tenants about their plight, and inspect the condition of apartments that families are now being gouged for by as much as 50%. The landlord has already started filing mass eviction orders. With a lack of affordable housing in Toronto, hundreds of families will likely join the ranks of the homeless. Contact Stefan Pilipa or John Clarke at (416) 925-6939 for more information. Visit the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) website Go back to the West Lodge (Toronto) Tenants Association home page. |