March 12, 1998
To: Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee
From: Jack Layton
Co-Chair, Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons
Subject: An Eviction Prevention Strategy for the City of Toronto
Purpose:
To prevent further homelessness in the City of Toronto by, ultimately, reducing preventable evictions through: research, analysis, public education and the co-ordinated efforts of legal clinics, social service agencies, municipal politicians and staff. The need for a focussed and co-ordinated campaign is particularly urgent in light of the provincial government's impending Tenant Protection Legislation. This legislation will affect the 53% of households in the City of Toronto who live in apartment units.
Financial Implications:
City Council will be asked to provide an amount no greater than $50,000 to fund the evictions prevention campaign through a purchase of service agreement with the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations. The City would also be asked to provide in-kind services through production and translation of the Eviction Prevention Kit materials in an amount not to exceed $5,000.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that:
(1) the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services report back to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee on a request for a purchase of service agreement with the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations (FMTA) to provide for the following services:
- co-ordination of CourtWatch program, including: training of volunteers, collection, analysis and report of all data
- maintenance of web site
- maintenance of telephone hot line
- development of a Tenant Eviction Prevention Kit
- development of multi-media campaign
(2) the City of Toronto allocate in-house printing and translation services for the Eviction Prevention Kit in an amount not to exceed $5,000
(3) the City of Toronto adopt a policy that economic evictions from City-owned housing not be pursued except as a means of last resort
(4) a joint meeting be convened between Metro Toronto Housing Authority (MTHA), the Metro Toronto Housing Company Limited (MTHCL), Cityhome and members of the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons to review current practices for identifying early arrears cases and to develop best practices, policies and procedures for working with tenants to avoid arrears and economic evictions.
(5) Community and Neighbourhood Services Housing Division staff be requested to report to Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee with a recommendation for a uniform accessory units by-law across the City of Toronto.
(6) the Legal Department report back to the next Community and Neighbourhood Services meeting on whether rooming houses of up to seven units could be classified as single family dwellings
(7) Community Neighbourhood and Services Housing Division staff report back to the next meeting of Community and Neighbourhood Services on a rent bank pilot project to prevent evictions of women and children
(8) the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee develop a strategy to bring forward the report adopted by Metro Council on October 8, 1997
(dated October 7, 1996) from the Commissioner of Community Services, headed The Homeless Crisis in Metro (appended). In particular, a report should be brought forward as soon as possible outlining an aggressive City of Toronto policy on use of vacant housing units use it or lose it)."
(9) City Council write to Premier Mike Harris, the Hon. Charles Harnick, the Hon. Isabel Bassett, and the Hon. Janet Ecker urging that regulations to the Human Rights Code governing tenant selection be drafted so as to:
(a) prohibit any use of minimum income criteria in tenant selection, except where such criteria are used to determine the eligibility for subsidy
(b) prohibit landlords from disqualifying young applicants or newcomers for the reason that they have no landlord reference or credit rating
(c) prohibit co-signor requirements except where the landlord has received negative information with respect to credit or previous tenancies; and further that
(10) Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman or his designate meet with the Minister of Citizenship responsible for drafting of the regulations to communicate these concerns directly to the Minister (the full text of the motion passed at the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons is appended).
(11) the Mayor and Members of Council communicate its concerns about the impact of the Tenant Protection legislation on affordable rental housing stock in the City of Toronto, and urge the provincial government to:
a) fund two additional Tenant Duty Counsel representatives in light of the fact that there will be three physically separate tribunal locations to hear evictions.
b) b) change the tribunal member criteria to either allow tenants to be on the tribunal or disqualify landlords
Should the provincial government refuse to provide the necessary representation for tenants, Council will need to consider funding the Tenant Duty Counsel.
Background:
A shrinking vacancy rate (particularly for affordable units), the impact of actual value assessment on tenants and the impending provincial Tenant Protection Act set the stage for a dramatic increase in the number of homeless and underhoused people in the City of Toronto given that 53% of the residents in Toronto are tenants.
Estimates are that over 138,000 of the residents in the City of Toronto are at risk of homelessness (Beyond Survival: Homelessness in Metro Toronto, United Way, November 1997).
The number of evictions recorded (through writs of possession filed with the courts) in the City of Toronto has risen steadily since 1992 (see attached statistics and graphs). There were 1,211 writs of possession filed in December 1997 alone. These numbers do not reflect the actual numbers of people who leave voluntarily when presented with an eviction order.
Landlord and tenant disputes under the Tenant Protection Act (Bill 96) will be administered through the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal (ORHA). Under the new provincial landlord and tenant legislation, tenants will have five days from the issuance of an eviction order in which to respond in writing to one of three tribunals in Toronto. Tribunal offices in Toronto are anticipated to hear 561 cases per week.
The recommendations set out in this report are in keeping with decisions of the former city of Toronto and Municipality of Metro Toronto. Both expressed serious concerns at public hearings on New Directions for Tenant Protection (August 1996) and Bill 96 (July 1997) held by the Standing Committee on General Government.
In July of 1996 the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons presented a forum report entitled Working Together: An Exploration of Strategies to Prevent Evictions (appended). The Evictions Sub-Committee of the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons has built on the work of the forum and developed recommendations for eviction prevention.
EVICTION PREVENTION CAMPAIGN
A comprehensive campaign involving: information kits, an eviction hotline and website, advertizing and court monitoring program towards identifying who is being evicted and why, and how the City can prevent many of those people from becoming homeless. The campaign would be supervised and administered by the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations and supported by the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons and the Tenant Advocacy Group (composed primarily of community legal clinics).
Components of the campaign:
1. Tenant Eviction Prevention Kit
This comprehensive information kit would focus on the rights and responsibilities of tenants facing eviction. The kit would be made available through Councillors, tenants organizations, community centres, libraries, etc. Preparation and content would be developed by FMTA while translation and printing would be provided in-house.
2. Telephone Hotline
This 24-hour hotline would operate at full service during limited hours and partial service (with taped messages) during a 24-hour period. The hotline number would be widely circulated through the information kit, community centres, councillors offices and through public service announcements and advertizing. The hotline would provide essential information for tenants on the first steps in dealing with an eviction order and the resources available to them.
3. Web Site
While the information would be generally available to the public, the website would primarily be to provide downloadable material for use by tenant advocacy groups to help tenants to understand the first steps they must take with respect to evictions. Councillors would also be able to download the information for their newsletters. The interactive web site will provide another forum in which to gather information on tenants who are facing eviction, but who do not ultimately appear before a tribunal.
Multi-Media Strategy
FMTA is to devise a strategy for getting critical information out to tenants through public service announcements, transit ads, and advertizements. Elements of the strategy might include tear-off information cards with the hotline number and key facts when facing eviction.
Eviction CourtWatch:
A detailed picture is needed of why evictions are occuring and how they might be prevented. The CourtWatch project would provide qualitative and quantitative research findings from comprehensive tracking of cases through the court and, when implemented, the tribunals. The monitoring of cases and decisions would facilitate Council's policy in the areas of housing and support services.
The courtwatch program would be run primarily by volunteers, with co-ordination and administrative support provided by the Federation of Metro Tenants. When the eviction hearings are moved from court to the tribunals there will be a need for at least 12 volunteers to monitor the five hearing rooms.
The Federation of Metro Tenants Associations (FMTA) will provide training and orientation. A training kit for volunteers will be developed by FMTA in consultation with legal clinics and will include information on court and tribunal procedures.
A detailed form will summarize the type of eviction, amount of arrears owing, number of months in arrears, type of landlord (i.e. private, non-profit), whether the tenant had legal counsel or not, etc.
In addition to filling out the form, volunteers would take detailed notes of what happened in each case and try to speak to the individual(s) being evicted. As well, volunteers would need to attend daily at the registrar's office and the Tenant Duty Counsel office to track cases that have been set aside.
Detailed written reports will be collected, analyzed and provided to the relevant City of Toronto committees and the Homeless Action Task Force to form the basis for a report back to Council on the next steps in the eviction prevention strategy.
The City of Toronto should be a role model in terms of landlord/tenant relations. Economic evictions should not be pursued except as a means of last resort. It will be important to bring the City's three largest housing providers together (MTHA, MTHCL, and Cityhome) specifically to strategize on how public housing landlords can work to reduce evictions.
Permitting accessory units is the equivalent of a City's magic wand in terms of creating additional housing units. A uniform by-law across the City of Toronto must be brought forward as soon as possible that protects tenants from unsafe conditions while allowing some flexibility in terms of requirements.
The Evictions Sub-Committee of the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons is working with the Rooming House Working Group to prepare a forum which would involve rooming house owners and tenants and their respective associations to provide as much information as possible on tax impacts and possible strategies.
In addition to information provided by the Financial Services Department on the impact of tax changes on non-profit and affordable housing, a report is requested from the Legal Department as to whether rooming houses of up to seven units could be classified as single family residential units.
A number of recommendations were adopted by Metro Council in the fall of 1997 from the Homeless Crisis in Metro report from the Commissioner of Community Services. These recommendations and resulting actions need to be reviewed in terms of the City of Toronto's commitment to preventing homelessness.
Human rights code regulation changes and the Tenant Protection Act (Bill 96) will have a significant impact on the ability of tenants to get access to and maintain their housing.
The attached motion from the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons sets out the need for Toronto City Council to communicate with the Provincial government on regulations to the Human Rights Code.
Details of proposed operations have not been made public. Information from the Ontario Legal Aid Plan Clinic Funding Office and excerpts from the procedures manual for training of tribunal members indicates the following:
Currently there is one Tenant Duty Counsel to assist tenants who are engaged in disputes with their landlords through the court. With three physically separate locations proposed and some six hundred cases to be heard per week, there is a clear need for at least two more Tenant Duty Counsel.
The funding for these lawyers is clearly the responsibility of the provincial government and should be provided through the Ontario Legal Aid Plan. Council must urge the provincial government to fund these positions as the tribunal offices come on line. Should the provincial government fail to fund these necessary positions, the City of Toronto would need to review the options for funding Tenant Duty Counsel.
In terms of the composition of the actual tribunals, the current criteria are such that tenants who have been active in associations are prohibited from becoming tribunal members, yet landlords who own property of under 7 units are eligible. The recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons is to change the tribunal member criteria to either allow tenants to be on the tribunal or disqualify landlords.
An eviction prevention strategy for the City of Toronto protects the economic and social interests of all of the City's residents, over half of whom are tenants. Keeping people in their homes is a vital tool in the City's campaign to reduce homelessness.
Jack Layton
