Ottawa Tenants Conference

Press Release - Sept 22 2010

2010-09-22T12:49:00.003-07:00

Media Advisory
September 22, 2010

Ottawa Tenants Conference Takes on Local Trends and Decisions

The Ottawa Tenants Conference is taking place at City Hall this coming Saturday, September 25th from 9am to 4pm. The event brings tenants together to provide education and self-empowerment.

“We’ve seen a number of local issues in the past year that have had a significant impact on tenants. We’ve also seen proposed legislation, such as the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act (SCAN) which we believe will decrease the rights of tenants. We felt it was important to to draw in speakers who are experts in various fields of tenant interests and incorporate them into the conference,” says Rob MacDonald, an organizer for the conference For example, the City of Ottawa has been plagued by recent fires leaving more tenants homeless than ever before with only the clothes on their backs. One of the speakers, Paul Rapsay, is a lawyer who has an area of expertise in Tenants Insurance. He will be speaking about the need for tenants to have insurance and the landlord’s obligations when tenants are forced out of their homes due to emergencies such as fire or flood.

Diane Wade from Ottawa Tenant Duty Counsel will be addressing the SCAN legislation which has been denounced by tenant advocacy groups across the province as a violation of human rights and may be unconstitutional. The legislation allows buildings to be closed down for up to ninety days and a SCAN appointed Director would have the authority to immediately evict innocent tenants as well as those suspected of any criminal activity, all without a hearing.

A number of tenants have voiced their concerns about living in unsafe communities with unresponsive landlords. Mohammed Sofa, a community developer with Pinecrest Queensway Community Health Centre will be addressing tenants about building a safe community for themselves and their neighbours.

We will also be holding the first Mayoral All Candidates debate in the morning portion of the conference to show how municipal policy decision makers can affect the quality of life for tenants. “Tenants pay seventy per cent more in municipal property taxes through their rents than homeowners of comparable units, yet the city refused to reduce the discrepancy, even though tenants have less than half the income of homeowners. Change will only come if tenants speak out,” says MacDonald.

For more information about the conference, please visit our web site at: ottawatenantsconference.ca or contact Rob MacDonald at 613-563-4532, extension 226

PRESS RELEASE - September 07, 2010

2010-09-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

Press release

As Ottawa loses affordable rental housing through fires, demolitions and exorbitant rent increases, tenants will meet at City Hall on Saturday, September 25th, for the fourth annual Ottawa Tenants’ Conference. The Tenants’ Conference is a unique event in Ontario and perhaps Canada. It is designed to bring tenants together to provide education and a forum for tenants who rent on the private market or live in social housing. The goal of the conference is to help mobilize and empower tenants while at the same time offering practical advice to those having problems with their landlords.

This year’s conference will have a Mayoral All-Candidates Debate to focus on how municipal policy decision makers can affect the rights and interests of tenants in Ottawa. The day will include various workshops on tenants’ rights and relevant issues. In addition to guest speakers, there will also be a Tenants’ Panel consisting of several tenants who have organized in their buildings and had positive outcomes.

Lawyers will be available in the morning to give free legal advice to tenants wishing to discuss their specific problems about their landlords. All participants will receive a Resource Kit of practical information about tenants’ rights and services available to help them.

The conference runs from 9:00am to 4:00pm at City Hall located at 110 Laurier Avenue. A light breakfast and free lunch will be provided. Admission is free but tenants must register in advance by calling 613-563-4523, extension 456. Tenants should indicate if they require assistance with bus tickets or daycare arrangements.

The conference is being organized by Housing Help, Ottawa’s Community Legal Clinics, the Housing Loss Prevention Network, the Coalition of Community Developers and local tenant activists.

For further information about the Conference, please visit our website at ottawatenantsconference.ca

To speak to someone you may contact Rob MacDonald at 613-563-4532, extension 226,

...

2010-06-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

CTV - Interview with Rob MacDonald - Nov. 2009

2010-05-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

CTV.ca

Renters' rights discussed at City Hall event
Updated: Sat Nov. 28 2009 7:05:03 PM

Blocked ducts, chilly hallways and pest problems are all issues that renters know well -- and a new education campaign at Ottawa's city hall aimed to educate these tenants about what their rights are under provincial legislation.

"Tenants have nothing, so part of what we're doing here today is trying to get tenants organized a bit so that their voice is heard throughout these processes, and the political system as well," said Rob MacDonald, one of the organizers of the tenants' conference at city hall on Saturday.

Many people care to share their stories and frustrations about the people they rent from.

"With our house, a lot is not sealed that well and our utility bills are just ridiculous," says renter Lesley Chalklin.

The harmonized sales tax headlined the issues discussed at the event, with MacDonald claiming tenants pay 70 per cent more in property taxes than homeowners of a comparable unit do.

With rent continuing to rise for the 400,000 Ottawa tenants, people are really starting to feel the pinch.

"We're seeing a lot of people that are spending a disproportionate amount of their income towards rent," says MacDonald, "so we're seeing more and more families having to go to the food bank and get some sort of supplementation from Ontario Works or welfare."

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Jonathan Rotondo

CTV - Interview with Rob MacDonald April 2008

2010-05-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

CTV.ca

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080419/OTT_tenants_conference_080419/20080419/?hub=OttawaHome

Renters need to unite for their rights
Updated: Sat Apr. 19 2008 6:35:13 PM

Issues facing tenants were the topic of discussion at city hall Saturday.

Participants in the city's second tenants' conference heard that renters make up 40 per cent of Ottawa households and pay a disproportionate amount in property taxes.

"Tenants pay 80 per cent more property taxes through their rents than a homeowner of a comparable unit, so that's one thing we could be looking at and I hope we will," said Rob MacDonald, Tenants' Conference organizer.

"If tenants were to mobilize, say as a political lobbying group, just think of the clout they would have."

Ottawa Councillor Alex Cullen was also on hand to encourage people who rent to get more politically active and let politicians know how they feel about the issues that affect them.

Cullen is promising to bring forward a motion at city council next Wednesday that would lower the share of taxes renters pay from a ratio of 1.8 to 1.75.

If approved, it could nudge up the property tax increase for homeowners by .2 per cent.

Other topics discussed Saturday included rent control and the state social housing.

News Flash - Workshops we'll be having and Dan McIntyre, Metro Toronto Tenants Fed...

2010-04-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

4th Annual Ottawa Tenants Conference

The 4th Ottawa Tenants Conference will take place at
City Hall on Saturday September 25th from 9am to 4pm. It is open to both tenants who live on the private market and those who live in social housing. It will be held in Andrew Haydon Hall. The location is 110 Laurier Avenue West. Admission is free and lunch and bus tickets are free of charge. A limited number of daycare subsidies are also available on a first come, first served basis. In addition, each participant will receive a Tenant Kit which contains information about tenants’ rights, resources available when they’re having problems and information about trends and issues affecting tenants in Ottawa.

This year’s conference will include keynote speaker Dan McIntyre, who is the Executive Director of the Metro Tenants Federation in Toronto. Prior to his work there, Dan was the Executive Director of the Federation of Ottawa Carleton Tenants’ Associations her in Ottawa. He has been a passionate defender of tenants for more than twenty-five years and has organized a countless number of tenants’ associations in Ottawa and Toronto, in addition to lobbying for better rent control and legislative reform.

With the municipal election in October following the conference, we will be incorporating an All-Candidates Mayoralty Debate about municipal issues that affect tenants, such as property standards and maintenance, an unfair property tax system which penalizes tenants, demolishing affordable housing, and building more housing for tenants.

There will also be a number of workshops throughout the day to provide tenants with a wide range of information on various topics such as terminating a tenancy, how to build safer communities, apartment insurance, how the City can help tenants with maintenance and health issues

Contact Information:
Ottawa Tenants Conference
c/o Housing Help
502- 309 Cooper Street
Ottawa, ON
K2P 0G5

613- 563-4532 (phone)
613-563-8019 (fax)
robm@housinghelp.on.ca (e-mail)

********
Workshops

Below is a list of the tentative workshops we have scheduled for this year’s conference.

1. Maintenance and Repairs
Learn the steps to take to get maintenance done and how to use municipal resources
2. Accountability of Political Decision Makers
Holding politicians accountable for issues that affect tenants’ housing and affordability
3. Tenants’ Insurance
What tenant’ insurance covers and what your landlord is responsible in cases of emergencies such as fire or theft
4. Fire, By-Law and Health standards
How the city can help tenants when the landlord won’t do repairs.
5. Tenancies and the Environment
6. Improving Tenant’s Safety
Discover what other communities are doing about crime in their neighbourhoods
7. Disability and the Human Rights Code
How a landlord is responsible for accommodating a disability
8. Termination of Tenancy and Evictions
How to give legal notice to your landlord when you want to leave, and what to look for you if you receive an eviction notice from your landlord
9. Safer Communities And Neighbourhoods Legislation

Background

The first Ottawa Tenants’ Conference took place on March 24th, 2007 at City Hall. More than 140 people were present. The conference was sponsored by local community groups and coalitions. The conference has gone on to become an annual event in Ottawa. It is administered through Housing Help, with funding provided by the City of Ottawa.

The reason these conferences were started was simply to address the imbalance of power that exists between landlords and tenants by enhancing the knowledge of tenants around their rights.

Traditionally, tenants have not been an organized group and Ottawa lacks any formal structure to help them respond to matters effectively and collectively. As a result, they are at a disadvantage when it comes to understanding their rights or facing landlords at the Landlord and Tenant Board. Tenants who are organized are more readily able to learn their rights and how to use them. At the first conference, we heard from several courageous tenants who organized their neighbours successfully and fought to keep their housing in spite of the fear they experienced. The benefit to the City is that organized tenants don’t have to move as often and affordable housing is not lost because of unscrupulous methods of some landlords.

The purpose of the conferences is to bring tenants together and provide a forum for them to share their stories. They also provide an opportunity to hear how other communities are providing support and information to tenants through innovative models.

We do this by providing them with Tenant Advocacy Kits containing information on the new Residential Tenancies Act, guides on how to organize effective tenants’ associations, resource booklets, and information and information about new and pressing issues. Lawyers are available throughout the day to offer practical advice to tenants in need of immediate assistance. Through the workshop sessions, tenants are given an opportunity to discuss common problems and identify solutions.

There were often several recurrent themes heard throughout the day. Tenants need the tools to work together collectively. Many tenants are living in fear of their landlords yet they are afraid to look elsewhere because of the high costs of rent. Tenants pay a disproportionate amount of their rent on property taxes yet get little in the way of actual tenant services. Maintenance was a significant issue for most of the tenants, as well as coercion to move out of the premises.

Until these conferences began, there has been a myth in Ottawa that organizers would not be able to get people out to such an event, because tenants were believed to be apathetic and they were not concerned about anything beyond the four walls of their units. We challenged that stereotype and we were rewarded by a turnout that exceeded even our own expectations. We saw tenants who were fiercely passionate about these issues and wanted the tools to make changes in their lives. We heard from tenants who have organized successfully and shared their own stories. The turnout was even more phenomenal when recognizing the fact that there was no ‘formal’ tenant network in which to promote the event.
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Ottawa Tenants Conference - ottawatenantsconference@yahoo.ca

2010-04-13T09:24:00.000-07:00

If you want updates as they are posted let us know, we can add you to our mailing list. If you want to contact us directly please send emails to:

ottawatenantsconference@yahoo.ca

or

you can be our friend on FACEBOOK at:

ottawatenantsconference
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Latest News - Mayoralty Debate on Tenancy issues being planned for Sept. 25, 2010 Ottawa Tenants' Conference

2010-04-08T19:19:00.001-07:00

Ottawa Tenanats Conference - Latest News

The 4th Ottawa Tenants Conference will be taking place at City Hall again this year. In the past, these conferences have served to bring tenants together to discuss common problems and also to learn about structural issues affecting their tenancies.

We are organizing an All Candidates Mayoralty Debate as part of our upcoming conference on Saturday, September 25th from 9 to 4pm. The debate portion of the conference will be approximately one and a half hours in duration and will focus on municipal issues such as property tax rates in multi-residential buildings, property standards and maintenance, demolition of rental housing, and providing more affordable housing. The estimated time frame is from 9:30 to 11am.

Tenants comprise approximately 40% of the population in Ottawa and this will be an opportunity to hear directly about issues that affect them the most in their communities. We anticipate approximately 200 tenants will attend the event.
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CBC Interview with Rob MacDonald on issues of "Affordable Housing"

2010-04-03T09:21:00.000-07:00

Listen to the Interview with Rob MacDonald of Housing Help on the issue of Affordable Housing in Ottawa.

http://www.cbc.ca/allinaday/listenagain.html

look for "Affordable Housing" under the "Featured Audio" in the centre of the page.

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4th Annual Ottawa Tenants' Conference - What we are planning.....

2010-03-24T11:31:00.001-07:00

4th Annual Ottawa Tenants' Conference is now being planned.

September 25, 2010 is the date for our next conference.

****April 12, 2010 - Dan McIntyre from the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations has agreeed to be our keynote speaker.
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Our Mission Statement

2010-03-12T08:55:00.003-08:00

Ottawa Tenants Conference- Mission Statement

Mission Statement

The Mission Statement of the Ottawa Tenants Conference is to enhance the lives of tenants living in the City of Ottawa and to be a leading force for positive change. We do this by providing education, practical information, and a safe environment to allow tenants to share their experiences and success stories.

Who We Are

The Ottawa Tenants Conference is comprised of organizers from local community clinics, tenant advocates, housing loss networks, community developers, and tenants wishing to affect change in their community. We established the first Tenants Conference in March, 2007, and it has gone on to become an annual event in Ottawa. Towards this aim, we provide information, advice and support to both our members and the general body of tenants.

Vision

The Ottawa Tenants Conference envisions a city where all tenants are treated fairly and equally, and disputes between landlords and tenants are no longer necessary. We have a vision of rental communities where tenants can live in adequate, affordable housing in a safe environment free from anxiety, oppression, and discrimination.

Beliefs

Our work is based in the conviction that tenants themselves must be the leaders of efforts to transform their housing conditions and communities, and in the belief that everyone deserves a safe, healthy, and affordable home.

We believe there is a systemic imbalance of power between landlords and tenants and, as a result, tenants face injustice in the form of discrimination, instability, increased rents, overcrowding and worsening living conditions. These issues keep tenants marginalized and kept away from the funding and policy decisions that impact on their daily lives.

Organizers of the Ottawa Tenants Conference believe that everyone deserves to have a direct say in the decisions that impact their lives and that the people affected by housing problems should be key consultants in developing policy and solutions. Through education, support and sharing of best practices, we seek to strengthen the voice of tenants to win improvements in housing conditions and develop positive, healthy communities.

“It’s been a long, long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will”
Sam Cooke

The Goals of the Ottawa Tenants Conference:

The goal of the Ottawa Tenants Conference is to address the imbalance of power that exists between landlords and tenants by providing a safe environment to engage tenants in a dialogue in order to build on their success stories and to establish a collective voice to improve the lives of tenants. Our goal is to reduce the isolation tenants experience in dealing with their housing problems by bringing them together collectively and empowering them to advocate for themselves. We strive to educate tenants about structural legislation and systemic policy so they have a better appreciation that their issues are endemic of broader guiding principles and the result of decisions at a higher level. We seek to inspire and empower tenants through practical information and the success stories of fellow tenants who have made a difference in their own buildings and communities.

How We Achieve these Goals

• Provide tenants with the tools and information to address individual housing problems and help them organize to address broader housing issues.
• Identify best practices of other tenants/ tenant associations
• Create a structure to allow tenants to work collectively throughout the City of Ottawa
• Assist tenants in building networks and alliances with other tenants and allies.
• Develop a plan to allow tenants to influence decision makers to improve the quality of life for tenants
• Identify gaps in services that could enhance the quality of life for tenants in Ottawa.

Outcomes

• Tenants are better informed about legislation and services
• Decrease in illegal evictions, rent increases, and other violations as tenants learn to enforce their rights
• Reduction in the need for community services and legal assistance as tenants become more self-sufficient.
• The establishment of more tenants associations, increasing the number of educated tenants
• Tenants have a greater awareness of the structural issues affecting their tenancies
• Tenants learn how to resolve problems with unresponsive landlords
• Tenants establish tenants associations, networks and learn to work collectively in the community as they bring their knowledge and experience to other tenants.

Ottawa Tenants’ Conference- A Brief Description

The Ottawa Tenants Conference is a unique event in Ottawa and Ontario. It is open to all tenants in the City of Ottawa who live on the private market or in social housing. The conference attempts to balance the diverse and various issues of all tenants while bringing them together to focus on common themes such as maintenance issues, soaring rents, unresponsive landlords and relevant topical issues of the day. Legal services are available throughout the day to provide advice to tenants about their specific issues, and the workshops allow tenants an opportunity to discuss their concerns in smaller groups and network amongst themselves. The workshops can range from practical information about maintenance, rent increases and evictions to information about legislation such as the Residential Tenancies Act and the Human Rights Code. Each participant also receives a Tenant’s Kit, which contains brochures about pertinent legislation, resources available in the community and information about pressing issues of concern to tenants.

Although it is important to give tenants the practical information, the conference also strives to provide ideas to tenants about ways they can work more effectively for change, either within their own individual buildings, or at the structural level. In Ottawa, landlords are represented by the Eastern Ontario Landlords Organization (large landlords), Ottawa Region Landlords Association, (small landlords) and the Federation of Rental Housing Providers (provincial lobbying group). In contrast, tenants in Ottawa have no formal network to liaise with each other or to identify their common issues. These conferences take the first small steps to address the imbalance by bringing the tenants of Ottawa together to speak with one voice.

1st Tenants Conference Recommendations to Ottawa City Council - What City Council did in response

2010-02-17T09:15:00.000-08:00

Ref No. ACS2008-CPS-HOU-0005

Subject: TENANTS' CONFERENCE RECOMMENDATIONS

Report Recommendation: That the Community and Protective Services Committee receive this report for information.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Ottawa Tenants' Conference took place on March 24th, 2007 at Ottawa City Hall. More than 140 people were present. The Tenants' Conference produced a list of eight recommendations, which were submitted to Community and Protective Services Committee (CPSC) by Councillor Holmes in Fall 2007. CPSC recommended that the City of Ottawa assist with a second tenants' conference, and that staff review the recommendations produced at the first tenants' conference and report back to Committee.

The recommendations from the tenants' conference requested enhanced services for tenants. Some examples include, setting up a city wide tenants' association, a tenants' help line, enhanced property standards, creating a standardized maintenance form, collecting information from Toronto's models of tenants assistance, and hosting a social housing forum.

Staff support enhancing the service system by providing better information and resources for tenants. The recommendations from the tenants' conference point out gaps in the existing service system. Since reviewing the recommendations of the first tenants' conference, the Housing Branch staff has worked with Housing Help and Action Logement to explore the feasibility of enhancing services to tenants, including support for tenants' associations. As a result of those discussions, staff recommend that rather than creating a new entity to provide these services, that any such services be provided via Housing Help and Action Logement, ideally through a centralized point of service. These two agencies already receive their core funding from the City and work together to provide services for housing search and tenant support. The Housing Branch has increased funding for core services to Housing Help and Action Logement.

The second Ottawa Tenants' Conference took place on April 19, 2008 and was organized by Housing Help with financial assistance from the City of Ottawa. The Housing Branch as increased funding to Housing Help to hold a tenants' conference annually.

BACKGROUND

The Ottawa Tenants' Conference took place on March 24th, 2007 at Ottawa City Hall. The conference was sponsored by the following agencies: Family Services of Ottawa, Ottawa's Community Legal Clinics, Ottawa Tenant Duty Council, Housing Loss Prevention Network; Coalition of Community Developers, Housing Help, and the City of Ottawa through Community Capacity Building Funds from the National Homelessness Initiative. The Tenants' Conference produced a list of eight recommendations, which were submitted to Community and Protective services Committee (CPSC) by Councillor Holmes in Fall 2007. CPSC recommended that staff review the recommendations produced at the first tenants' conference and report back to Committee.

DISCUSSION

The City of Ottawa's Housing Branch partners with community-based agencies to provide a range of services, form social housing, emergency shelters, outreach, housing search and stabilization, and housing loss prevention. Most of these services are accessed by low-income tenants.

About 34% of Ottawa households are renters and 37% of renter households currently pay in excess of thirty percent on their income on housing. The majority of renter households earn annual incomes at the low to moderate end of Ottawa's income spectrum, which means that after paying rent, many have little left over to pay for food, clothing, and other essentials. Ottawa is losing affordable rental housing at a significant rate = over 2,000 units since 1995.

Rents have generally kept pace with inflation since 1995. However, incomes at the lower end of the continuum have stagnated or fallen in real terms since that time. Minimum wage earners have lost real purchasing power to inflations since 1995.

The City Housing Strategy provides further information and can be found on the City of Ottawa website:
http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/occ/2007/11-14/pec/ACS2007-CPS-HOU-0012-E.htm

The recommendations from the tenants' conference requested enhanced services for tenants. The recommendations include setting up a city-wide tenants' association, a tenants' help line, enhanced property standards, creating a standardized maintenance form, collecting information from Toronto's models of tenant assistance, and developing a social housing forum.

The recommendations from the 2007 Tenants' Conference are included below along with a staff response to each.

....To see the complete City of Ottawa response go to :

http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/occ/2007/11-14/pec/ACS2007-CPS-HOU-0012-E.htm

Ottawa Sun - Sunday, Nov 29, 2009 - Tenants make security plea

2010-02-01T18:38:00.001-08:00

Tenants Make Security Plea

Organization key to rights says activist

Doug Hempstead, Sun Media

Wheelchair-bound Ottawa Housing tenant Lana Wong says she routinely puts up with loud neighbours, break-ins and seen at least one death threat.

"It goes right through your head," she said of the noise. "All your picture frames fall down, your dogs howl, your babies wake up and even the cockroaches run out of the house."

She and several dozen other tenants gathered at City Hall yesterday to voice their concerns and learn about their rights in the third annual Ottawa Tenants' Conference.

The main focus of the event was supposed to be financial - but most of the frustrated tenants, like Wong, wanted answers of safety and security.

Kicking in window

"Perfect example was last night," said Beausoleil Tenants' Association member Susan Spencer. "(I) had someone in my backyard, trying to kick in my window. I called security and security says we don't have anybody."

Senior Greg Gauthier, of the Blackburn Hamlet Community Association, said he's been having success fighting crime in suburbia by partnering with police.

"We've got down to two break-ins this year and we've got the drug dealers out. Its a lot of work," he said.

Spencer sees Gauthier's success story as an example of non-community housing tenants - like those in Blackburn Hamlet getting more attention due to what she perceives as discrimination.

If that's the case, Housing Help tenant advocate Rob MacDonald said, tenants need to organize to fight for their rights.

"People in social housing have just as much a concern about who their neighbours are and the kind of environment they want to raise their children in as anyone else," he said.

The solution to crime and social housing, he added, can't only be found through evictions, but through meetings like yesterday'. He said a unified tenant voice calling for more addiction centres would be a big step toward curbing crime in social housing.

But MacDonald sees finances as a bigger issue. He said tenants also don't bring their voice to taxation issues like the proposed harmonized sales tax, because many of them don't see property taxes as an issue that affects them.

"Tenants actually pay 70% more property taxes than a homeowner in a comparable unit," he said. "That's a message we want to get out to tenants is these issues do affect them."

doug.hempstead@sunmedia.ca
Watch the Video - ottawasun.com/tenants
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2009 Ottawa Neighbourhood Study

2010-02-01T18:37:00.003-08:00

Ottawa Neighbourhood Study

Evidence is mounting that the neighbourhoods and communities in which we live affect both the health and the gap in health between rich and poor. Our aim is to better understand the physical and social pathways through which neighbourhoods in Ottawa affect health.

The Ottawa Neighbourhood Study is based at the Institute of Population Health at the University of Ottawa. This multi-disciplinary study is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

We hope that municipal bodies, local organisations and concerned community members can use this knowledge for neighbourhood planning and as a stepping stone to coordinating efforts to have a more substantial impact and to improve the places in which we all live.

Look for your neighbourhood - http://137.122.133.36/neighbourhoodstudy.ca/main.php

You should know - Top 10 Tenant Facts in Ottawa by Rob MacDonald of Housing Help Ottawa

2010-02-01T18:37:00.001-08:00

You should know - Top 10 Tenant Facts in Ottawa

by Rob MacDonald of Housing Help.

1 - According to the latest Census data, tenants comprise 40% of Ottawa households.

2 - Tenants pay 1.7% more in property taxes through their rents than homeowners of comparable units, even though tenants have approximately half the income.

3 - Ottawa lost 233 units through demolitions in 2009. In early 2010, approximately 200 tenants were permanently displaced due to a rash of fires.

4 - There were more than 69,000 eviction applications filed at the Landlord and Tenant Board in 2008, mostly tenants struggling to pay unfair rents.

5 - Rental units built after 1991 are exempt from rent control. market rate units in social housing are also exempt from rent provisions.

6 - In the mid 1990's the Provincial Government cancelled funding to tenant advocacy groups. In Ottawa, the Federation of Ottawa Carleton Tenants' Associations, The Ottawa Council of Low Income Support Services, and the Ottawa Tenant Council all lost funding.

7 - Landlords are well organized through organizations such as the Ottawa Region Landlords Association, Eastern Ontario Landlords Organization, and the Fair Rental Policy Organization. Conversely, tenants have no formal structure to have their voices heard. This creates an imbalance during consultation processes.

8 - According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the local vacancy rate is 1.5 per cent. Analysts agree that a 'healthy' vacancy rate is 3 per cent. Without rent control on vacant units, landlords can chare whatever they want since tenants have less choice. It also gives landlords more incentive to evict tenants as a way to raise rents.

9 - Since 1995, only 9% of new housing built was rental housing, but this doesn't keep pace with the number of units lost through demolition, conversion, or renovations (see number 3).

10 - When the vacancy rate rises above 3 per cent for two consecutive years, landlords can apply to have rental units converted to condominiums. During the period of 2004 and 2005, when the vacancy rate rose above 3 per cent, there were 68 conversions of rental units to condominiums.

CTV - Saturday, November 28, 2009 19:05pm

2010-02-01T18:36:00.004-08:00

Renters' rights discussed at City Hall event

Updated: Sat. Nov. 28, 2009 19:05:03

ctvottawa.ca

Blocked ducts, chilly hallways and pest problems are all issues that renters know well and a new education campaign at Ottawa's city hall aimed to educate these tenants about what their rights are under provincial legislation.

"Tenants have nothing, so part of what we're doing here today is trying to get tenants organized a bit so that their voice is heard throughout these processes, and the political system as well," said Rob MacDonald, one of the organizers of the tenants; conference at city hall on Saturday.

Many people care to share their stories and frustrations about the people they rent from.

"With our house, a lot is not sealed that well and our utility bills are just ridiculous," says renter Lesley Chalklin.

The harmonized sales tax headlined the issues discussed at the event, with MacDonald claiming tenants pay 70 per cent more in property taxes than homeowners of a comparable unit do.

With rent continuing to rise for the 400,000 Ottawa tenants, people are really starting to feel the pinch.

"We're seeing a lot of people that are spending a disproportionate amount of their income towards rent," says MacDonald, "so we're seeing more and more families having to go to the food bank and get some sort of supplementation from Ontario Works or welfare."

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Jonathan Rotondo
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24Hrs - Dec. 23, 2008 - Rent soaring

2010-02-01T18:36:00.003-08:00

24 Hrs - December 23, 2008 - Vol. 3, No. 27

Rent soaring
by Sun Media

Rising rents and plummeting vacancies mean finding an apartment in Ottawa for lower wage earners can be an exercise in frustration if not futility.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the vacancy rate for apartments in this city has diminished to 1.4% - its lowest rate since 2001 - while the average rent increased by 3.6%.

Perry Rowe, the chair of the Alliance to End Homelessness, said a growing problem is renters facing the likelihood of reduced hours or layoffs thanks to the economy.

"Where will they find places to move to when so few are available and rents are this high?" he asked.

The rule of thumb, he added, is to pay about 40% of earnings towards shelter. But many pay more than 70% of their wages because that's all they can find.

One of those on the front lines is Centre 507 director Caroline Ann Giekes. The drop-in centre is seeing more people all the time. Giekes attributes that to the cost of housing.

"Many people in Ottawa can be classified as the hidden homeless. They earn a salary, but it's not enough to live on."

FAST FACTS:

The average length of stay in an emergency shelter in Ottawa is up 13.9%, over 2006. More than 1,200 children slept in an emergency shelter in 2007, an increase of 6.4% over the previous year. Some statistics:

- 1,337 single women and 5,029 single men stayed in shelters in 2007
- Over 8,000 individuals were homeless in Ottawa in 2007
- At $995, Ottawa has the fifth-highest average monthly rent of a major centre in Canada. The top four: 1. Calgary - $1,148; 2. Vancouver - $1,124; 3. Toronto - $1,095; 4. Edmonton - $1,034
Source: CMHC

Ottawa Citizen - Classified Section - 2008

2010-02-01T18:34:00.000-08:00

Second Ottawa Tenants' Conference at City Hall

by Cynthia Nyman Engel

The second Ottawa Tenants' Conference will be held at City Hall on Saturday April 19, 2008 from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. It is a follow up to the conference held last spring and it is open to tenants residing on the private market and in social housing.

The purpose of the conference is to provide information, education and a forum for tenants to tell their stories. Through the workshop sessions, tenants were given an opportunity to discuss common problems and identify solutions. The recommendations that came out of the previous workshops included more outreach and organizing services to tenants, enhancement of Property Standards Services, and an ombudsman for social housing tenants. The recommendations were submitted to the Community and Protective Services COmmittee on October 4, 2007.

Despite some amendments to the landlord and tenant legislation, tenants are at a significant disadvantage in the current market. "Through their rents tenants pay a property tax rate that is 1.8 times the rate homeowners pay for comparable units, even though tenants have half the income" says Rob MacDonald, an organizer of the conference.

He continued, "Ottawa loses an average of 120 rental units annually through demolitions. When vacancy rates are high, landlords can apply to convert rental units to condominiums." Mr. MacDonald indicated that the loss of rental units has resulted in an erosion of affordable housing that squeezes out the middle class and people of low income.

Sarah B. is a single parent renting on the private market who will be attending the conference. "It amazes me that a country with such tremendous wealth is in such a quagmire regarding housing issues, to the extent that the United Nations must question our leaders on such abysmal apathy and what seems like willful ignorance on such a basic need as safe, affordable, healthy housing for every citizen of this nation."

This year's conference will be held again at City Hall. The speakers include Jim Watson, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Member of Provincial Parliament for Ottawa West, Dorothy O'Connell, local activist and author, and Alex Cullen, City Councillor for Bay Ward. The event will be catered and bus tickets and daycare can also be arranged if requested. People can register by calling 613-563-4532, extension 456 or e-mail register@housinghelp.on.ca.

The conference is sponsored by the following organizations:
- Ottawa's Community Legal Clinics
- Ottawa Tenant Duty Counsel Program
- Housing Loss Prevention Network
- Coalition of Community Developers
- Housing Help
with funding provided by the City of Ottawa.

For information, please contact Rob MacDonald at 563-3229, extension 226.

Key Reasons Tenants Need Help

1. Tenants compose 40 per cent of Ottawa households, representing 120,000 rental units.
2. Through their rents tenants pay a property tax rate that is 1.8 times the rate paid by homeowners of comparable units, even though tenants have approximately half the income.
3. The community plans around homelessness and poverty have not adequately addressed the needs of tenants. Tenants are currently required to either be homeless or at risk of homelessness before getting help. It is more cost efficient to use proactive methods that reach tenants before they are at risk of losing their housing.
4. Ottawa loses an average of 120 rental units annually through demolitions.
5. Since 1995, only nine per cent of new housing built was purpose-built rental housing guaranteed to remain in the rental market, unlike condo units built to be rented.

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Centretown News - Friday - April 13, 2007

2010-02-01T18:26:00.002-08:00

Editorial (Page 4)

Tenants' rights

'By' Jeffrey Davis

Tenants are all too often taken advantage of by avaricious, unscrupulous and exploitative landlords. The reason this happens, economists say, is that as group consumers they can't band together to protect their common interests. Ottawa's recent Tenants Conference, which did just the opposite, proves this is not always the case.

Ottawa, which lacks strong organizations dedicated to protecting tenants, must build on the momentum provided by the Tenants' Conference. Further projects should be modeled on the excellent example provided by Toronto. Among the tenants services available in that city are legal funds for tenants and a website listing landlord by-law violations.

With more condominium complexes being built in Ottawa, the likelihood that tenants will be pressured out of their homes is increasing.

If the city continues to approve these projects, which benefit wealthy developers, it should also take steps to mitigate the negative effects there projects can have on tenants.

The city could do this by providing more funding and support to Ottawa Housing Help, the group that hosted the recent Tenants' Conference.
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Access Now - March 2007

2010-02-01T18:26:00.001-08:00

Ottawa's First Conference to Improve the Lives of Tenants

Ottawa's first Tenants' Conference took place on Saturday March 24th at City Hall (See Poster attached).

The purpose of the conference was to hear local tenant stories involving evictions, high rent increases and tenants taking action to protect their rights and housing.

The attendance was so great that the original room to be used for the Forum had to be changed to Council Chambers at City Hall.

The event was free of charge, included lunch. Bus tickets and daycare were available for those on limited incomes.

The guest speaker, Michael Walker, a City Councillor from Toronto brought a new perspective to Ottawa by discussing that city's way of addressing tenant problems and the importance of investing in tenants.

Elisabeth Arnold, Executive Director of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Provided the Closing comments on a very productive day for all that participated.

The event was sponsored by:
Family Services of Ottawa; Ottawa's Community Legal Clinics; Ottawa Tenant Duty Council; Program Housing Loss Prevention Network; Coalition of Community Developers; Housing Help; City of Ottawa.

Community Capacity Building Funds were supplied from the National Homelessness Initiative.

For more information please contact:
Rob MacDonald at 613-563-4532, extension 456.
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Sunday Sun - News - March 25, 2007

2010-02-01T18:17:00.000-08:00

Tenants unite in fight for justice

'By' Jon Willing

The message was clear yesterday during Ottawa's first tenants conference at City Hall: Renters want more power over their landlords.

"I want to start yelling and I want to know how to yell, " Bonny Yull said as she sat in the audience with about 100 other people concerned about rising rents and illegal procedures by their landlords.

Yull, 64, was looking for "tools" to empower herself as a tenant.

"We need to form together in a way that we can make change and make a difference," she said.

Early in the day's agenda, participants were already standing up and sharing their horror stories of renting in Ottawa. But what they really wanted wa advice on how to gain the upper hand on unfair landlords.

A common answer offered was to start tenant organizations inside rental clusters. The audience heard from three tenants who successfully organized associations in their communities and scored victories over their landlords.

Andrew Nellis, a social activist in Ottawa, explained how he formed a tenants group in his Centretown building when a new owner was giving offers of $30 to tenants who move out of their low-cost units. The tenants group took the owner to the housing tribunal where they managed to hammer out a deal.

Steep rent hike

While the panel inspired others to work with their fellow tenants, some audience members said there was no one on the panel to offer advice to those in city-run housing.

Penny Know, 54, lives in community housing in the west end. She's trying to start a tenants association but is running into challenges from people who don't want to get involved.

"There's a fear that if they take on a position of responsibility, they won't be able to handle it," Knox said.

Conference organizers brought in Toronto Coun. Michael Walker to discuss his city's approach to helping tenants.

Walker, who chairs a tenant defence subcommittee in Toronto, said Ottawa can establish a similar fund to help tenants take on their landlords.

"You need advocates," Walker told the audience, explaining that organizing this year is crucial since a provincial election is just months away.

"If we are fragmented, we will never have power."
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Saturday Sun - News - March 17, 2007

2010-02-01T18:12:00.001-08:00

Conference to help renters find voice

'By' Aedan Helmer

With rent on the rise, vacancy rates plummeting and no end in sight to Ontario's housing crisis, organizers of Ottawa's first Tenants' Conference hope to give renters a voice.

The all-day conference will be held at City Hall on march 24, featuring presentations from tenants' rights groups, politicians and legal counsellors.

'Empower them'

"Tenants have not been given the information they need on how to deal with situations with their landlords, or with the city," said conference organizer Rob MacDonald. "The purpose of the conference is to help empower them with that information."

At the conference, tenants will receive legal advice on issues ranging from rent increases to eviction. They will also be encouraged to become politically mobilized to curb a trend that has seen vacancy rates in Ottawa steadily decline since 1995.

"I don't think that city councillors are actually paying attention to the trend, and it's getting worse. I don't think they are aware of the consequences, that we are losing this affordable housing," said Sandra Bender, an Ottawa resident invited to speak at the conference.

'Tenants have not been given the information they need on how to deal with situations...' Rob MacDonald

Bender led a group that brought Commvesco-Levinson Viner before a tribunal when the real estate giant converted her downtown apartment into luxury suites, forcing tenants out.

Toronto City Coun. Michael Walker will also make a presentation, focusing on tenants' advocacy groups, which have played a part in keeping that city's rental rates under control.

Walker has won a seat in nine consecutive municipal elections, advocating for tenants' rights since entering politics in 1982.

"(Tenants) have a voice," said Walker. "They may not have the organizing power and the power of money like developers and landlords, but they have the power in the ballot box."

Those who wish to attend the conference are asked to register by calling Housing Help at (613) 563-4532, ext. 456.
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Ottawa Citizen - City - March 17, 2007

2010-02-01T18:10:00.003-08:00

Conference to help empower tenants

Renters say cards are stacked against them

by Jake Rupert

About two years ago when the provincial government was revamping its landlord/tenant regulations, Rob MacDonald was expecting renters' rights to be beefed up.

But during government consultation on possible changes, he noticed landlords were well organized, and tenants weren't.

Consequently, he wasn't surprised when the new regulations failed to meet his expectation, but he decided to do something about it.

"I knew we needed to get together and get our issues front and centre with the city and the province," he said.

So Mr. MacDonald and others have organized Ottawa's first tenants' conference to discuss ways to improve their situation. It's open to the public and will take place next Saturday at 10 a.m. at City Hall.

Mr. MacDonald said tenants are confronted with high rents, unresponsive landlords, low vacancy rates, evictions and other issues, and that most renters don't know their rights under the provincial guidelines.

The result, he said, is an imbalance of power in the landlord/tenant relationship. He said this conference is designed to start addressing the problem.

Unlike other cities, Ottawa doesn't have a lot of tenant services and there is no tenants' federation, he said.

For example, Toronto has a tenant defence fund and the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations, and the city runs an apartment standards website.

"I see this conference as the starting point," said Mr. MacDonald, who works at Housing Help, a non-profit organization that helps tenants. "The idea is to get the conversation started on what we should be doing, and go from there."

Sandra Bender is a renter who helped organize her neighbours when their landlord was trying to evict them.

She said tenants need to learn their rights, so if a landlord tries to do something in contravention of the Landlord/Tenant Act, they can stop it.

"This conference is really important for tenants," Ms. Bender said. "Education is a vital part of tenants having the confidence to insist that their rights be respected."

Michael Walker, a Toronto city councillor, will speak at the conference about how his municipality funds tenant services and why this is important. Others will speak about organizing tenants' associations, legal issues, successful strategies for dealing with problem landlords, and other topics.

"It's about getting tenants together and empowering them," Mr. MacDonald said. "This conference will give a voice to tenants and people who are marginalized in our society."
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[Photo Caption: Rob MacDonald says tenants face high rents, unresponsive landlords, low vacancy rates, evictions and other issues and need to be better organized. Most tenants don't know what rights they have under provincial law, he says. Mr. MacDonald is joining others to organize Ottawa's first tenants' conference to help renters learn how to empower themselves. It's to be held next Saturday at Ottawa City Hall.]
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Ottawa Citizen - Classified Section - March 17, 2007

2010-02-01T18:10:00.001-08:00

Conference aims to bring tenants up to speed on their rights

By Cynthia Nyman Engel

When an above guideline rent increase situation developed that put tenants at the risk of losing the roof over their heads, Sandra Bender organized her fellow tenants to action. "Individually we wouldn't have had a chance," Ms. Bender says. United, they averted wholesale disaster and kept their rents affordable.

"I realized that our landlord had a battery of lawyers who knew the Tenant Protection Act inside out and, if we didn't organize ourselves and access resources in the community that could help us, we'd really be at a disadvantage." she explains.

Ms. Bender, and several others who have successfully organized fellow tenants to action, will be among the featured speakers at a six-hour Tenants' Conference taking place Saturday, March 24, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. at City Hall. The conference is the first of its kind in Ottawa.

Toronto City Councillor Michael Walker, an ardent advocate for tenants' rights, is the keynote speaker. Mr. Walker will explain why Toronto strongly believes in investing in its tenant population and how Toronto funds its tenant services. Toronto's tenant services include the Tenant Defense Fund, the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations and the city's Apartment Standards web site.

"The Ottawa conference will give a voice to tenants and people who are marginalized in our society," says Rob MacDonald, a conference organizer. "Tenants are at a disadvantage when they are dealing with their landlords because they aren't informed about the complexity of the laws. This conference will be stepping stone towards addressing that imbalance of power.

"Where it dovetails is when tenants face above guideline rent increases, yet they haven't had basic maintenance done in their units in several years," says Mr. MacDonald. "For example, one Ottawa landlord was replacing all the refrigerators and stoves as tenants moved out. This qualified as a capital expenditure which meant the landlord could raise the rents of the existing tenants. However, those same tenants had spent considerable lengths of time - up to a year - requesting repairs to their own appliances to no avail. Nonetheless, they were paying the increased rent for the cost of the new tenant's new appliances. That was the last straw.

"We want to help tenants address the imbalance in the current system in terms of how they can help themselves, how the city can help them, and how the provincial government can help them," MacDonald says.

Community legal worker Daniel Gagnon, a conference organizer, says, "The legal clinics only have the capacity to work one-on-one with tenants, usually when they are in crisis situation. We need to find ways to work more effectively with tenants."

Sandra Bender feels the conference is a really important one for tenants. "Maintaining affordable housing in Ottawa is crucial," she says. "And education is a vital part of tenants having the confidence to insist that their rights be respected. The conference is a great opportunity to learn how to protect your rights as a renter, how to use the law and the Landlord and Tenant Board to ensure landlords respect those rights."

The conference is free and includes bus tickets and lunch. Daycare is available. However, registration is limited and seats are filling up fast. To register, call 613-563-4532 ext. 456.

The Tenants' Conference is being held under the auspices of Family Services of Ottawa, Ottawa's Community Legal clinics, The Ottawa Tenant Duty Council Program, Housing Loss Prevention Network, Coalition of Community Developers, Housing Help. Funding: City of Ottawa through the National Homelessness Initiative.

Ottawa Sun - Friday, March 16, 2007

2010-02-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

Poor locked out of homes

Rising rents, low vacancy rate a double blow

by Aedan Helmer

A lack of government foresight has led to a province wide housing crunch, according to a report released yesterday.

The Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada issued the Report titled Where's Home? 2006 : A Picture of Housing Need in Ontario.

According to the study, during a 10-year span between 1995 and 2005, the province lost 13,000 rental housing units, 3,300 of them in the Ottawa area.

Ottawa's vacancy rate also dropped well below the national average to 3.3% last year, and the downward trend is expected to continue.

"The impact is first felt by folks without a whole lot of income," said David Peters, special advisor to ONPHA. "There's an untended need in the low-income area, and our view is that we need a national housing policy and a provincial housing policy that's consistent and enduring."

Housing Help, an Ottawa-based agency that deals with tenant and landlord issues, is already feeling the pinch.

Long waiting list

"There continues to be a great number of people who just can't find decent, affordable housing in Ottawa," said executive director Trudy Sutton. "It's one reason we have such long waiting lists for subsidized housing." According to Sutton, the wait for subsidized housing in Ottawa is already between five and seven years, with 15,000 households currently in line.

"One of the overall issues we're seeing is it's not only harder to find an apartment, but can you afford the apartment," said Harvey Cooper, manager of government relations with CHF.

"Over the 10-year period, rents certainly went up much higher than the Consumer Price Index (which measures cost of living)," said Cooper. Ottawa was one of the worst offenders in the province, with average rent outrunning the CPI by more than 30%.

The most surprising statistic in the study, according to Cooper, was that only 5% of the new construction projects are aimed at the rental market, down from 25% in 1995.

But according to Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization president John Dickie, this is a "good news story."

"There is no shortage of rental housing," said Dickie. "We are becoming as a society more wealthy, and many people want to own a home."

Dickie instead suggests the best way to help low income families is through a portable housing allowance system, already in effect in Quebec, B.C. and Manitoba.

"We think a balanced policy will have to include a lot of things,' said Peters. "But the (Ontario) premier did say he'd be putting $392 million into affordable housing and we're hopeful a good chunk of it will go to permanent non-profit and co-op housing."
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[Photo Caption: Ontario is facing a housing crunch, with low-income renters having a particularly hard time finding a place to live. Ottawa's vacancy rate has dropped well below the national average to 3.3% in 2006, and with only 25% of new housing aimed at the rental market, things will likely become worse.]
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City Journal - Wednesday March 14, 2007

2010-02-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

Meetings & Events (cont'd) Page# ?

Ottawa's first "Tenant's Conference"

A Toronto city councillor, a representative of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Ottawa-Centre MP Paul Dewar will be among the speakers at a conference to help inform tenants of their rights and advise those who have had problems with their landlords. There will be workshops on issues such as building maintenance, high rents and evictions as well as kits on how to organize tenants. The conference takes place at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 24 at city hall, 110 Laurier Ave. West. Registration is free. Call 613-563-4532, ext 456.
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1st Annual Ottawa Tenants Conference - March 24, 2007

2010-02-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

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