On February 17, the Ford government voted against a New Democratic Party (NDP) bill created to protect Ontario residents who will be facing evictions when lockdowns are lifted.
Bill 244, or the ‘No COVID-19 Evictions Act’, proposed to place a temporary ban on evictions up until the pandemic is declared over. Faisal Hassan, NDP Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for York South-Weston, explains that the bill aimed to amend the 2006 Residential Tenancies Act by adding pandemic-specific provisions that would protect tenants from evictions.
Hassan states that the NDP firmly believes no one should be facing eviction throughout the pandemic, and facing evictions during this time is an “unreasonable and unfair hardship for families already struggling.”
On January 14, the Ontario Government moved to ban evictions during the stay-at-home order, but as lockdowns are being lifted throughout the province, evictions notices have already resumed for many Ontario residents.
Abi Bond, executive director for the Housing Secretariat in the City of Toronto explains that for the city, eviction prevention programs will play a crucial role in helping residents maintain their housing, and in relieving pressure on the shelter systems. “In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, needs have been growing and deepening beyond the parameters of the city’s current eviction prevention programs,” Bond says.
“The city has taken the steps it can to support tenants by strengthening our existing tenant support programs,” she adds, “but the scope of evictions resulting from the economic uncertainty of the pandemic requires a broader provincial and federal response to income security and emergency rent relief.”
Conrad Spezowka, spokesperson for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, outlines some of the work the Ministry has done to support tenants, including the Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act. Spezowka explains that this act “mandates the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) to consider whether a landlord attempted to negotiate a repayment agreement with tenants, before resorting to an eviction, for nonpayment of rent during COVID-19.
“This measure promotes repayment agreements over evictions for nonpayment of rent and aims to maintain tenancies,” he adds.
As Alyssa Brierley, executive director of the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation, points out that Premier Doug Ford stated back in March 2020 that no tenant would lose their home if they couldn’t pay rent during the pandemic. Brierley comments that based on the Premier’s own ‘promise’, “the Ford government should have supported the NDP bill to stop evictions.”
Brierley continues: “It should be well-aware by now of the long-lasting consequences of evicting people from their homes, especially at a time when this will result in increasing their vulnerability to contracting and spreading COVID-19. We need all provinces to step up and support tenants by doing everything they can to prevent evictions and homelessness.”
Brierley explains that the government must focus more on pandemic-related support for tenants, as we are in the midst of a “national eviction crisis.”
“This is an urgent issue that the federal government is responsible to address under its own legislation — the National Housing Strategy Act — which requires it to do everything in its power to realize the right to housing for all Canadians, and that includes ensuring that no one loses their home during the pandemic,” she says.
Looking at life after lockdown, Hassan worries about how the housing landscape will look, explaining that the pandemic has amplified the housing inequalities present in our society.
“The changes the Ford government has made to the LTB has meant people are often not receiving representation and are facing a system that is difficult to navigate and understand,” he says. “The direction, where tenants in disputes should ‘negotiate’ with their landlord, is understandably not a fair and even playing field.”
Hassan concludes that the NDP will continue to advocate towards housing for all, and states that he fully intends to “continue to advocate for tenants and for housing in the legislature, as well as in the community.”
At the time of publication, the Office of the Premier couldn’t be reached for a comment.
