How this city councillor wants to close a ‘loophole’ to protect tenants facing demovictions

Coun. Saxe said that the owner’s obligation to preserve the same residential gross floor area instead of the same number of units caused those demovicted from dwelling rooms to lose their guaranteed right of return.

Saxe gave the example of 39 dwelling room tenants at 262-266 St. George St. While the new building will contain 30 bachelor units, the property owner is proposing only 12 bachelor units and a one-bedroom unit to be set aside as replacement units for the dwelling room tenants. Since only these 13 replacement units will be available at comparable rents to the current dwelling rooms, it will leave 26 of the dwelling room tenants unlikely to be able to afford units in the new building and with no right to return to their homes, Saxe said in her letter.

Corbin Sparks, a representative from the Federation of Metro Tenants' Association (FMTA) who works directly with people in unlicensed multi-tenant homes, said he supports Coun. Saxe’s motion, stating “tenants need this amendment in place now or as soon as possible.” He said the biggest challenge facing dwelling room tenants is a lack of affordable housing. Many dwelling room tenants, including folks at 7 Brenton St. in Scarborough are facing an eviction at the end of this month due to needed renovations. The landlord is offering them only one month’s worth of rent. Sparks said these tenants “told me personally…that they can’t find anywhere else affordable to live in the city” — and as a result, are on the brink of homelessness. Sparks also called on the committee to retroactively apply the amendment to dwelling room tenants who are facing the threat of demolition right now “to ensure they have a home to return to.”

Yaroslava Avila Montenegro, the executive director of FMTA , said dwelling room tenants are among the most vulnerable in the city and called the proposal a “step forward in the right direction.” Montenegro called on city planning to update its Tenant Relocation and Assistance policy to require developers to provide all displaced dwelling room tenants with replacement units or comparable housing at similar rents — retroactive to the implementation of the multi-tenant housing bylaw. This would protect tenants like the ones at 262-266 St. George St. Montenegro also called on the city to enhance performance reporting by annually tracking how many tenants have been able to move into replacement units or move back into their units after a renovation or demolition.

Coun. Gord Perks, who is also chair of the Planning and Housing Committee, asked what other policies and tools the city has to support renovicted dwelling room tenants. Doug Rollins, director of Housing Stability Services for the City of Toronto, said that the city has increased funding to existing partners such as the FMTA, the Center for Housing Rights, and invested in a $3 million fund for 2025 to support landlords who need to maintain or do repairs on multi-tenant homes.

As chair, Perks had the last words on the subject and didn’t mince them: “It continues to really grind my bones that we still don't have the kind of protections, the kind of guarantee of tenure that you would expect in…a fair and decent society here in Ontario. And largely that's because the two places where those decisions are ultimately made are [the] Landlord Tenant Tribunal [Board] and the Ontario Land Tribunal, both of which are entities controlled by and appointed by the province of Ontario.”

“I don't know what their animus is against people who don't have high incomes and people who don't own their own property but the animus is certainly there and it particularly shows up with people in [with] really low incomes who live in dwelling rooms,” Perks added.

What were the outcomes of the discussions? 

The Planning and Housing Committee passed a motion for City Council to direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director of City Planning in consultation with the Executive Director of the Housing Secretariat to report back to the committee by the first quarter of 2026 on whether to require those demolishing six or more dwelling rooms to provide replacement units for all their demovicted tenants.