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Mayor @JohnTory has insisted that he's doing his best to stand up for tenants, and that any meaningful action to prevent evictions is out of his hands. He's wrong on both counts - here's why:
First, Tory has made housing a low priority for his entire tenure as mayor, starting with skipping a debate with Olivia Chow and Doug Ford on the issue when he first ran for mayor in 2014: https://torontosun.com/2014/10/17/doug-ford-olivia-chow-upset-john-tory-skipping-housing-debate/wcm/c3953585-25e2-47ef-8c8c-2a7464db5280
During his tenure as mayor, life for renters has become increasingly difficult, and affordable housing has been at best an afterthought.
Since 2010, the wait list for Toronto Community Housing has increased by 50%, and the cost of renting in Toronto has increased at 3x the rate of inflation. Only ~4000 "affordable" units were built in Toronto in that time: https://torontostoreys.com/toronto-social-housing-ten-year-report-2020/
I use scare quotes for "affordable" because many of these supposedly affordable units are too expensive for minimum-wage workers and completely out of the reach of people on ODSP or OW, like these units that the City promoted (and Tory retweeted): https://twitter.com/cityoftoronto/status/1281642050211864576
Meanwhile, Tory's tenure has been marked by an ongoing and worsening homelessness crisis in the city, which the Mayor has refused to deal with substantively. https://nowtoronto.com/news/john-tory-homelessness-crisis
As mayor, Tory has prioritized low property tax rates over adequate funding for city services, which has disproportionately affected low-income Torontonians.
Tory's handling of housing has benefitted wealthy people in the city at the expense of renters. In no way can he credibly claim he's done everything in his power to help tenants, either during COVID or earlier in his tenure as mayor.
Second, Tory's argument that there's nothing more he can do about the evictions crisis is preposterous. One of tenants' main demands to him is expressing support for any person who's being evicted to stay in their apartment. This is something Tory could do, by himself, today.
It's more than just a symbolic statement. Enforcement of mass evictions depends of the cooperation of many agencies and levels of government, including municipalities, sheriff's departments, LTB workers and more.
If some of these groups indicate their refusal to cooperate in the eviction of tenents during a major medical/economic crisis, Bill 184 becomes increasingly difficult to enforce. A statement from Tory would be meaningful helpful for tenants.
What's more, Tory has dismissed out of hand a proposal from tenants to declare an emergency evictions moratorium in the city of Toronto, claiming that he likely doesn't have the authority to do so.
Would a moratorium from the city be struck down by the courts or overruled by the province? Maybe. But it's also possible that it would be allowed to stand. This is an emergency situation that calls for strong, radical action, not cautious legalistic prudence.
Tenants' other demands are equally doable. Tory can - and should - direct TPS to not participate in the evictions of any tenants or homeless encampments in the city. Eviction is not a criminal matter and police have no business participating in evictions.
And it should be a no-brainer that the city should call on the province to repeal Bill 184. To date, Tory has been silent on this, other than to say that he believes nobody should be evicted without a hearing.
Eviction law may be a provincial matter, but the effects of mass evictions will be felt most at the local level. Toronto's twin crises of unaffordable housing and homelessness will be made vastly worse by the province's actions.
Tory was criticized heavily during the council cuts crisis of 2018 for not standing up to Doug Ford strongly enough. Again, it looks like he's willing to allow Ford to impose a major crisis on the city without doing everything in his power to stop it.
It's not too late for him to act, though! @JohnTory, if you're ever going to show up for tenants, now is the time to do it. #NoCovidEvictions @KeepYourRent
