Thread by @beyrima

Thread:

The LTB is functioning as an eviction factory. I sat through a day of covid-related hearings yesterday. I was there to serve as a witness in support of the #EastYork50, who have brilliant legal & community backing

But for others, it was a nightmare...

The hearings are chaired by adjudicators who not all thoughtful or even necessarily fair, so tenants are at the mercy of the draw. Some are better (kinder, more willing to listen to tenants’ reasons for their inability to pay arrears) than others.

Some are downright cruel...

In one case yesterday, documented by @Peoples_Defence, a tenant was pressured into signing a repayment plan that he clearly didn’t understand. When a lawyer there for another matter offered to help him, the chair kicked the lawyer off the call instead of agreeing to the help...

I watched ppl get evicted when they weren’t there/may not have aware that they had been served with an eviction notice. In some cases neighbours called & managed to get tenants into the hearing just in time

It wasn’t even called an eviction. The euphemism is “standard response”

And everything we warned about Bill184 is happening: tenants are pressured to sign onerous repayment plans for arrears they are unlikely to be able to honour. With the 2nd wave, they are losing income again. If they can’t honour their plan, they can be evicted w/o another hearing

In one room, I watched a hair stylist who still hasn’t caught up on his arrears in exactly that situation. But he has just lost his income again. We don’t know when hair salons will open

If he is a day late or a dollar short he cd be evicted w/o another hearing...

Some tenants don’t speak much English. There were families with children. Most were BIPOC or newcomers

The landlords were often represented by lawyers from large firms

The power imbalance was stark...

There were multiple rooms running at once. If the landlord didn’t show up, the matter was tossed out, but if the tenants didn’t show up, they were evicted anyway

It was heartless and cruel

In most cases that I heard, tenants were working as hard as they cd to repay arrears from income lost to covid in precarious jobs or bc they got sick. These are ppl living month to month who do not have savings they can draw down to pay arrears...

This is exactly why @FRPOFACTS urged the government to help renters w arrears for income lost due to covid

Now we are watching the nightmare come true: thousands of households will be turned onto the streets in the coming weeks. Many will not be able to find new housing

Deep into the 2nd wave of covid, as winter tightens its grip & right before the holidays, the government is refusing to reinstate an eviction moratorium or help ppl who lost income & can’t pay their arrears

The LTB eviction factory is in full force. Bill184 makes it all worse

We are already in a homelessness crisis. There is nowhere for people to go

Forcing ppl out of their housing mid-pandemic, mid-homelessness crisis, makes zero humanitarian, public policy or fiscal sense

#NoCovidEvictions #EastYork50