Improving building standards through accountability and retrofits in Toronto

Living in substandard apartment buildings deeply affects a person’s health and general well-being. While there is a clear connection between poor housing and poor health, ailments such as asthma, heart disease, sleep disturbances and foggy thinking are just the tip of the iceberg. Lower quality, inefficient housing also means higher energy costs, digging a deeper hole for low-income, vulnerable households. Toronto ACORN has a long history of organizing in low- and moderate-income neighbourhoods, helping tenants access their rights while building power in the process. In 2016, they pushed the city to adopt the RentSafeTO program—a first of its kind by-law enforcement program that ensures timely repairs in buildings and, most importantly, landlord accountability. 

However, a meaningful, tenant-focussed strategy is needed as the program is implemented. To help move it forward, the Centre has awarded $48,000 to amplify tenant voices and participation. Toronto ACORN’s Tenant Rights Organizing Project will focus directly on the city’s RentSafeTO program. It will engage roughly 600 people in a city-wide tenant rights committee: led by peer tenants, it will connect them to city decision-makers and policy-makers. In addition, the project will focus on getting important repairs done and building improvements completed to reduce carbon emissions through retrofitting. Overall, the project hopes to promote greater tenant involvement in decisions about “how to create more affordable, livable and sustainable housing.”