Protesters march to Kitchener City Hall to save affordable housing
Posted May 8, 2024 05:24:40 PM.
Last Updated May 9, 2024 09:55:13 AM.
A march for affordable housing started at 250 Frederick Street and ended at Kitchener City Hall on May 8.
The protest was organized by Waterloo Region ACORN and those who took part wanted to show support for tenants facing renovictions in the city.
During the march, some of the tenants at 250 Frederick rallied together and confirmed to CityNews 570 that a large group of them had received N13s in the last few months. A new landlord took over the property in downtown Kitchener sometime in October last year. Since, the tenants have allegedly faced problem after problem.
The Chair of WR ACORN, Acer Bonaparte, said if any tenants haven’t received an N13 yet in that building, they likely will soon.
“Right now, they’re going through a renoviction that is pretty brutal. The landlords have been using a lot of dirty tactics such as locking them out of their garages, pressuring them, telling them lies about when they have to be out and what their rights are, trying to divide them,” Bonaparte said.“Our main goal is definitely to show city councillors that people are in support of a renoviction bylaw and these tenants need help.”
One of those tenants, Brenda Zmija, who has lived in the building for the past 14 years without any issues —until now.
Zmija was one of the newest tenants to receive an N13 from the landlord, just last week.
“It’s all seniors, single parents … it’s just been very unfortunate. They just don’t care,” she said. “We’ve got a gentleman who’s waiting for a lung transplant, and they won’t let him in the parking garage. They increased all the laundry fees the first time they came and they’re evicting everyone in the building.”
Zmija added that the building itself is old but in good shape.
“We cannot afford to move into the new apartments that they are building all over the city, there’s no way we can afford the new rents.”
Another tenant at 250 Frederick Street, Linda Vos, has been in the building for about 10 years and has yet to receive an N13 from the landlord.
“We keep on getting these letters saying the price is going to increase and we won’t be able to access our parking. I don’t drive and so I don’t have a parking spot, but all my neighbours are stuck having to park on the street,” she said.
The building has affordable housing units locked in but ACORN says as many as 100 families are getting renovicted and have received an N13. Bonaparte said there are dozens of other buildings in Kitchener where this is also happening.
“So many tenants have lived here for decades, and this building has been in good repair this whole time, there haven’t been any problems and now there are nothing but problems, and people are trying to kick us out of our home,” Vos said.
“We just don’t know what’s going to happen, we feel unsafe in our own place where we don’t know if we’re going to be able to live here next year, like a place that I’ve called home for so long.”
In the letter the protesters delivered to Kitchener council, they are asking for them to create a renoviction bylaw that would make landlords prove a unit needs to be vacant for major repairs before evictions take place. They want better protections for renters in the city; to do that, they are also asking for landlord licensing where landlords would be licenced for proactive enforcement of property standards and renoviction prevention. They are asking for annual inspections and re-inspections for landlords who fail to comply with basic repairs or pest control issues.
In a statement to CityNews, the City of Kitchener said they are aware of the march and confirmed that staff are already looking into a rental replacement bylaw:
“We are aware of this march. Eviction and displacement are symptoms of a broader housing crisis facing all municipalities across the country. Kitchener is looking to better understand the depth of eviction and displacement in the city, including building data to understand experiences. Staff are also investigating a rental replacement by-law, which could be used to prohibit and regulate the demolition and conversion of rental properties. Tackling the housing crisis in Kitchener means all orders of government and the private sector need to work together.”