It is with considerable regret that I have come to the realization that it may be time to bring the Grace’s Places experiment to an end. It was great for the first 25 years, but while I’ve been carrying on for the past two years as if everything was good… well, I’ve been faking it.
In truth, I have for the past two years faced unconscionable harassment at the hands of two of Toronto’s more corrupt and dysfunctional bureaucracies, empowered… or at least emboldened… by your City Council. I have been threatened with criminal charges carrying the potential of a year in prison; your homes have been characterized on a City website as substandard and you have been characterized as tenants who have regularly complained to the City because your landlord is unwilling or unable to address your concerns. And now it appears that Toronto Fire Services wants the building gutted and turned into four luxury condos.
At the root of the problem is that fact that notwithstanding that most of you live in attractively renovated conventional one and two-bedroom apartments four of your neighbours in the building live in attractively renovated two-room bachelor units which have well-equipped private kitchens and share two bathrooms down the hall. As such, the entire building is designated a rooming house and is licensed and regulated. Given that the City recognizes the role that rooming houses play in providing much-needed affordable housing you could be forgiven if you imagined that rooming houses would be under the umbrella of an agency with an understanding of the challenges faced by tenants and housing providers, and a commitment to the preservation of what could be a desirable form of affordable housing. Alas, the regulation falls to Municipal Licensing and Standards, which also regulates strip bars and body rub parlours. More specifically, we are regulated by ML&S’s “Investigation Services Specialized Enforcement Resolution Team” (lest anyone forget the kind of shady characters that they are dealing with). And it seems that the folks at ML&S are as interested in protecting affordable housing as they are in protecting body rub parlours and strip bars.
Our lives have certainly not been made easier by the attitudes and actions of your City Council. To be clear, I believe that your Councillors (except for Ward 22 Councillor Josh Matlow) are intelligent, ethical and well-intentioned. Matlow is a grandstanding, self-serving, landlord-hating Councillor whose constituency is largely renters, and although he styles himself as an advocate for tenants he conducts himself as a lobbyist for the Matlow brand, using misleading or misunderstood data and questionable anecdote in an effort to fuel tenant resentment as he convinces tenants that they are being exploited. To Matlow (and many others) the rental housing industry is a zero-sum game where landlord and tenant compete for the largest share of a finite pie which is the tenant’s limited wealth. Matlow will tell you that landlords are getting away with highway robbery, but that regulation can give tenants an advantage.
It ought to be obvious that stigmatizing an entire industry only serves to steer responsible, self-respecting investors away from rental housing, which is the last thing the City needs right now. It may seem ironic that Toronto has so many irresponsible landlords, given that Toronto has the most regulated rental housing in Ontario, which in turn has the most regulated rental housing in North America. But there’s really no irony. When you drive self-respecting investors out of the industry with regulations enforced by corrupt bureaucrats who do suppose remains? If you shout from the rooftops that landlords in Toronto get away with highway robbery you are rolling out the red carpet to those who feel that highway robbery is an appealing vocation... so long as you can get away with it. And so long as Ontario’s tenant protection legislation is beyond the reach of Council they can, in fact, get away with it.
If you’re ever looking for me you’ll likely find me on the autism spectrum. When I’m not instructing my wife for the nth time on the proper way to load a dishwasher I’ll likely be obsessing about justice and fairness. Yes, apparently that’s a symptom of a syndrome. So is honesty.
In truth, I have for the past two years faced unconscionable harassment at the hands of two of Toronto’s more corrupt and dysfunctional bureaucracies, empowered… or at least emboldened… by your City Council. I have been threatened with criminal charges carrying the potential of a year in prison; your homes have been characterized on a City website as substandard and you have been characterized as tenants who have regularly complained to the City because your landlord is unwilling or unable to address your concerns. And now it appears that Toronto Fire Services wants the building gutted and turned into four luxury condos.
At the root of the problem is that fact that notwithstanding that most of you live in attractively renovated conventional one and two-bedroom apartments four of your neighbours in the building live in attractively renovated two-room bachelor units which have well-equipped private kitchens and share two bathrooms down the hall. As such, the entire building is designated a rooming house and is licensed and regulated. Given that the City recognizes the role that rooming houses play in providing much-needed affordable housing you could be forgiven if you imagined that rooming houses would be under the umbrella of an agency with an understanding of the challenges faced by tenants and housing providers, and a commitment to the preservation of what could be a desirable form of affordable housing. Alas, the regulation falls to Municipal Licensing and Standards, which also regulates strip bars and body rub parlours. More specifically, we are regulated by ML&S’s “Investigation Services Specialized Enforcement Resolution Team” (lest anyone forget the kind of shady characters that they are dealing with). And it seems that the folks at ML&S are as interested in protecting affordable housing as they are in protecting body rub parlours and strip bars.
Our lives have certainly not been made easier by the attitudes and actions of your City Council. To be clear, I believe that your Councillors (except for Ward 22 Councillor Josh Matlow) are intelligent, ethical and well-intentioned. Matlow is a grandstanding, self-serving, landlord-hating Councillor whose constituency is largely renters, and although he styles himself as an advocate for tenants he conducts himself as a lobbyist for the Matlow brand, using misleading or misunderstood data and questionable anecdote in an effort to fuel tenant resentment as he convinces tenants that they are being exploited. To Matlow (and many others) the rental housing industry is a zero-sum game where landlord and tenant compete for the largest share of a finite pie which is the tenant’s limited wealth. Matlow will tell you that landlords are getting away with highway robbery, but that regulation can give tenants an advantage.
It ought to be obvious that stigmatizing an entire industry only serves to steer responsible, self-respecting investors away from rental housing, which is the last thing the City needs right now. It may seem ironic that Toronto has so many irresponsible landlords, given that Toronto has the most regulated rental housing in Ontario, which in turn has the most regulated rental housing in North America. But there’s really no irony. When you drive self-respecting investors out of the industry with regulations enforced by corrupt bureaucrats who do suppose remains? If you shout from the rooftops that landlords in Toronto get away with highway robbery you are rolling out the red carpet to those who feel that highway robbery is an appealing vocation... so long as you can get away with it. And so long as Ontario’s tenant protection legislation is beyond the reach of Council they can, in fact, get away with it.
If you’re ever looking for me you’ll likely find me on the autism spectrum. When I’m not instructing my wife for the nth time on the proper way to load a dishwasher I’ll likely be obsessing about justice and fairness. Yes, apparently that’s a symptom of a syndrome. So is honesty.