An Eviction Prevention Strategy for

the City of Toronto

 The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee recommends the adoption of Recommendations Nos. (9), (10) and (11) embodied in the communication dated March 12, 1998, from Councillor Jack Layton, Co-Chair, Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons, viz:

 (9)City Council write to Premier Mike Harris, the Honourable Charles Harnick, the Honourable Isabel Bassett, and the Honourable 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; and

 (c)prohibit co-signor requirements except where the landlord has received negative information with respect to credit or previous tenancies;

 (10)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); and

 (11)the Mayor and Members of Council communicate their 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; and

 (b)change the tribunal member criteria to either allow tenants to be on the tribunal or disqualify landlords.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee reports, for the information of Council, having:

 (i)recommended to the Budget Committee for consideration at its meeting on March 31, 1998, the adoption of the following motion, referred to under the heading AFinancial Implications@ in the aforementioned communication from Councillor Jack Layton:

 AThat City Council approve an amount no greater than $55,000.00 to support programs that deal with evictions prevention.@;

 (ii)referred Recommendations Nos. (1) and (2) and (4) to (8) to the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services for a report thereon to the next meeting of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee to be held on April 23, 1998; and further that such report also include the feasibility of:

 (a)establishing a City Tenant Help Centre in each municipal office to assist tenants with respect to information on the Landlord and Tenant Act and with tenant representation; and

 (b)streamlining the process to enable local housing offices to have more authority in decision-making; and

 (iii)referred Recommendation No. (3) back to the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons.

 The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee submits the following communication (March 12, 1998) from Councillor Jack Layton, Co-Chair, Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons:

 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 percent 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 $50,000.00 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 $5,000.00.

 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; and

-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 $5,000.00;

 (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 the Metropolitan Toronto Housing Authority (MTHA), The Metropolitan 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 meeting of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee on whether rooming houses of up to seven units could be classified as single family dwellings;

 (7)Community and Neighbourhood Services Housing Division staff report back to the next meeting of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee 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 dated October 7, 1997, adopted by Metropolitan Council on October 8, 1997, from the Commissioner of Community Services, headed AThe Homeless Crisis in Metro@; 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 (Ause it or lose it@);

 (9)City Council write to Premier Mike Harris, the Honourable Charles Harnick, the Honourable Isabel Bassett, and the Honourable 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; and

 (c)prohibit co-signor requirements except where the landlord has received negative information with respect to credit or previous tenancies;

 (10)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); and

 (11)the Mayor and Members of Council communicate their 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; and

 (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 percent 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 (ABeyond 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 Avoluntarily@ 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 Metropolitan 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 1996, the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons presented a forum report, entitled AWorking Together: An Exploration of Strategies to Prevent Evictions@. 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)Website:

 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 website will provide another forum in which to gather information on tenants who are facing eviction, but who do not ultimately appear before a tribunal.

 (4)Multi-Media Strategy:

 FMTA is to devise a strategy for getting critical information out to tenants through public service announcements, transit ads, and advertisements. Elements of the strategy might include tear-off information cards with the hotline number and key facts when facing eviction.

 (5)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 Associations. 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 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.

 Evictions and City-owned Buildings:

 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.

 Creating Additional Housing Through Accessory Units:

 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.

 Impact of Actual Value Assessment on Rooming Houses:

 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.

 AThe Homeless Crisis in Metro@:

 A number of recommendations were adopted by Metropolitan Council in the fall of 1997 in the AHomeless 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.

 The Provincial Role:

 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.

 Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal:

 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:

 -there will be three tribunal offices in the Toronto Region;

 -Toronto south at Wellesley and Yonge;

-Toronto north at Yonge and Sheppard; and

-Toronto east (location to be determined);

 -there will be two hearing rooms each in the Toronto south and north offices and one in the east;

 -the offices are expected to hear 561 cases per week; and

 -82 percent of the cases are anticipated to be eviction hearings (with 12 percent on rent controls and 6 percent on rent abatements).

 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 seven 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.

 Conclusion:

 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.

 CCCC

 Attachment to An Eviction Prevention Strategy for the City of Toronto

Regarding Recommendation No. (10)

 Amendments To The Human Rights Code And Tenant Selection:

 WHEREAS housing discrimination against people on social assistance and other low income households is responsible for significant numbers of homeless families and individuals in Toronto; and

 WHEREAS many families in shelters and motel rooms in Toronto report that they frequently apply to hundreds of landlords before finding anyone who will rent to someone on social assistance, significantly extending their stays in shelters; and

 WHEREAS the use of income information in tenant selection effectively negates the protection from discrimination in housing on the basis of receipt of public assistance, a protection which is part of the Ontario Human Rights Code; and

 WHEREAS studies have shown that discrimination against people on social assistance is widespread in the housing market and results in significant costs to the municipality in the form of higher shelter allowances and the provision of emergency shelter; and

 WHEREAS the use of income criteria in tenant selection also denies single mothers, people with disabilities, youth and newcomers to Metro access to the most adequate and affordable housing on the market and is causing increasing homelessness among members of these groups; and

 WHEREAS families with children must pay a higher proportion of their income toward rent and are therefore frequently disqualified by minimum income criteria in housing; and

 WHEREAS data compiled by the Fair Rental Policy Organization to try to justify income discrimination actually showed no correlation of risk of default with a higher portion of income paid to rent at the commencement of the tenancy; and

 WHEREAS there is no data anywhere which shows any correlation between paying a higher proportion of income to rent at the commencement of a tenancy and risk of default; and

 WHEREAS many landlords require social assistance recipients and other low income households to provide a co-signor and many who are unable to provide a co-signor become homeless or remain homeless for a longer period of time; and

 WHEREAS many young people and newcomers are homeless because landlords will not rent to people who have no landlord reference and no credit reference; and

 WHEREAS the United Nations Committee on Economic and Social Rights has expressed concern about the extent of discrimination against low income households in housing in Canada and recommended improved enforcement of human rights; and

 WHEREAS the Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, Keith Norton, who was appointed by Premier Harris, has written to the Premier (March 10, 1997) stating that the Aincome information@ part of Section 200 "will raise serious human rights issues for seniors, single parents and persons who are receiving public assistance" and that "significant numbers of these individuals and their families will find themselves without affordable housing"; and

 WHEREAS the Chief Commissioner recommended either deleting section 200 of Bill 96 or clarifying in the regulations that the use of income criteria in selecting tenants is prohibited except where such criteria are used to determine eligibility for subsidy; and

 WHEREAS the Chief Commissioner and many other groups recommended that landlords be permitted to use credit information and landlord references in selecting tenants, but that they be prohibited from refusing to rent to young people or newcomers simply because they have no credit rating or landlord reference; and

 WHEREAS the City of Toronto and Metropolitan Toronto and other municipalities across Ontario, as well as over fifty individuals and non-governmental organizations, appeared before the Standing Committee on General Government to urge the repeal of section 200 of Bill 96; and

 WHEREAS the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing who represented the Ministry at the hearings assured the City of Toronto, Metropolitan Toronto and many other deputants concerned about this issue that new regulations to the Human Rights Code governing the use of income information, credit, landlord references and guarantors would "strengthen" current protections for low income households and that income criteria such as a 25 percent or 30 percent rent-to-income requirement would be prohibited; and

 WHEREAS the Parliamentary Assistant undertook to circulate any draft regulations governing tenant selection for comments from concerned organizations; and

 WHEREAS no regulations have yet been circulated;

 NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons recommends that:

 (1)Toronto City Council write to Premier Harris, the Honourable Charles Harnick, the Honourable Isabel Bassett, and the Honourable Janet Ecker urging that the regulations to the Human Rights Code governing tenant selection be drafted so as to:

 (i)prohibit any use of minimum income criteria in tenant selection except where such criteria are used to determine eligibility for subsidy;

 (ii)prohibit landlords from disqualifying young applicants or newcomers for the reason that they have no landlord reference or credit rating; and

 (iii)prohibit co-signor requirements except where the landlord has received negative information with respect to credit or previous tenancies; and

 (2)Toronto Mayor Lastman, or his designate, meet with the Minister of Citizenship responsible for the drafting of the regulations to communicate these concerns directly to the Minister.

 (Approved at the February 27, 1998, meeting of the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons.)

 CCCC

 The following persons appeared before the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee in connection with the foregoing matter:

-Councillor Jack Layton, Co-Chair, Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons;

 -Mr. Howard Tessler, Executive Director, Federation of Metro Tenants Associations;

 -Ms. Nancy Hindmarsh, Tenant Duty Counsel; and

 -Mr. Bruce Porter, Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation.

 (A copy of each of the attachments referred to in the foregoing communication was forwarded to all Members of Council with the agenda of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee for its meeting on March 26 and 27, 1998, and a copy thereof is on file in the office of the City Clerk.)