Episode 94: The Landlords

The Overhead: When Policy Pauses Public Ownership

We've spoken a lot about community land trusts in this series, and it's been gaining momentum in cities and towns all over Canada. But there are some policy choices that are stalling some land trust projects. Here we bring you two cases from Vancouver, and how these barriers can be removed. First, we speak to Djaka Blais, executive director of the Hogan's Alley Society. There is a municipal plan in place to rehabilitate an historically Black community, which was ruined years ago when viaducts were built over top of it for an expressway that was never completed, but the plan can't move ahead while those unused viaducts still stand. And we speak to Andy Bond, executive director of the Downtown East Side Community Land Trust, speaks about his organizations success in acquiring property for affordable housing in this low-income neighbourhood. But the City has also changed zoning in the area that previously mandated 60% non-market housing. How can policy changes help community land trusts move forward?

The Overhead: What We've Learned About Evictions

The Balanced Supply of Housing research node was formed to imagine real, working solutions to the housing crisis in Canada. But the first step to solving a problem is understanding it. We've covered many issues with this special series, but the issue we keep returning to is security of tenure (or lack thereof). The BSH has completed various studies into evictions since its inception — why they happen, how, who they impact, and the outcomes — and now they've brought all their evidence, data, and recommendations together into a free book for anyone to access. University of British Columbia Professor Alexandra Flynn and BSH Research Manager Alina McKay return to The Overhead to tell us about the evictions book, a digital tool for comparing tenants' rights from province to province, and breaking the taboo of talking about evictions.

Episode 94: The Landlords

We've covered a lot of research about housing with out special series The Overhead. But on the main feed, we're bringing you two perspectives on renting in the city. Tony Irwin is President of the Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario, and he has perspective on how to build more purpose-built rental housing. We also ask him about his support for the controversial provincial Bill 60. Then we talk to Bruno Dobrusin, organizer with the Toronto South-Weston Tenants Union, about renters' rights, rent strikes, and the creation of a new, city-wide union.

Episode 93: Everything Eglinton

To compliment the latest Eglinton-themed issue of Spacing Magazine, we begin with a celebration. Our regular transit commentators Toronto Star columnist and City Hall Watcher publisher Matt Elliott and York University Urban Geography Professor Patricia Wood return to give their review of the now Eglinton Crosstown LRT. Does it work, what did we learn through the drawn-out process, and are Public Private Partnerships really the best way to build transit? Then, Toronto Metropolitan University Associate Professor Cheryl Thompson tells us about her latest Spacing article "Golden Mile of Industry: How a recession, city planning, and an immigration wave (re)made a community."

The Overhead: Rent Control and Rent Hikes

In Ontario, we have rent control on buildings occupied before November 15, 2018. That means the landlords for these buildings can only raise rents for current tenants once a year at a percentage or "guideline" set by the Province. If they want to raise the rent higher, they have to apply for an Above Guideline Increase (AGI), and their stated reasons have to meet certain criteria such as paying for expensive improvements to the building or hiring security. But researchers have been studying these increases to how and where they're applied, who is affected, if they're being used appropriately. Two of the researchers studying AGIs are University of Toronto Scarborough Professor Julie Mah and University of Waterloo Associate Professor Martine August. They worry these above guideline increases are being used by landlords as an extra revenue tool or even a means to push tenants out. To find out how these AGIs affect tenants, we spoke to Douglas Kwan, director of advocacy and legal services at Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario. He questions whether AGIs are even necessary in many cases, when the landlords make more than enough from current rents. Are rules around rent increases being exploited for profit?