#Rent parkdale toronto windows

On May 1 two hundred tenants in six buildings began a rent strike to demand the immediate withdrawal of MetCap’s applications for rent increases above the Ontario rent guideline (totalling nearly 15% over three years) and completion of all necessary repairs. On April 30 rent strikers marched through the streets of Parkdale to announce their strike.

#Rent parkdale toronto windows

In April residents hung banners from their windows and balconies declaring “May 1 Rent Strike”, then successfully resisted the landlord’s reprisals. An occupation of the atrium at MetCap’s head office ended in a spontaneous mass meeting where the decision to go out on a neighbourhood-wide rent strike was taken. Neighbourhood meetings between buildings were held in the basement of the local library. The committees held meetings in their building lobbies and reached out to their neighbours door to door. March saw the formation of committees of residents at five more MetCap buildings in Parkdale. They then linked up with Parkdale Organize to reach out to neighbours living in the other MetCap buildings. By turning out at the Tribunal in numbers they were able to have the hearing postponed. In February, residents of a MetCap building in Parkdale organized a rent strike leading up to the Tribunal hearing that would have approved a large rent increase. WN: What’s happened in the rent strike so far? How did it start? What are the main issues, and how did tenants organise for it? The past three years of concerted neighbourhood organizing, coupled with a housing market in which rents have soared, have culminated in the ongoing rent strike in the MetCap buildings in Parkdale.

Veterans of the fights against Akelius soon joined with neighbours in other buildings to win a number of battles against their landlords, a major local employer, and to provide a learning space for school kids and their parents.

Parkdale Organize formed out of the successful struggles waged by committees of tenants at those buildings against rent hikes, harassment, and disrepair. In 2013 a large real estate firm called Akelius bought up four mid-rise apartment buildings in the neighbourhood. Parkdale Organize is a group of working class renters in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto. WN: Could you give a quick introduction to the group? How did you form, and what were your main activities before the rent strike? William Neumeister talked to a member of Parkdale Organize to learn more about their progress for Novara Media. As part of this struggle, several hundred tenants have been on rent strike since the start of May. In this context, it’s inspiring to take a look at Parkdale, an area in Toronto, Canada where tenants have been organising to demand repairs and fight rent increases. Recent events have made it tragically clear how dangerous it can be when tenants’ concerns about their homes are ignored.

No to Gentrification, Yes to Rent Strikes: An Interview With Toronto’s Parkdale Organize by William Neumeister The original publication can be found online here. Parkdale Organize was recently interviewed by the UK website Novara Media.