Tensions boil over in the summer heat in Thorncliffe Park

StarBuzzOnline.com

What: Thorncliffe Park Tenants’ Rally
When: Saturday, June 8^th, 11:30AM
Where: Start at 71 Thorncliffe Park Drive

Toronto --The Thorncliffe Park Tenants’ Association (TPTA) is organizing a rally next weekend. After many failed attempts at negotiations with the management, Q Residential, TPTA and the tenants have decided that enough is enough. They are taking their demands to the streets in the hopes that they will finally be treated with dignity and respect.

This latest eruption of tensions between the landlords and the tenants of buildings 71, 75 and 79, is a result of continued denials of basic housing rights. In the past, Thorncliffe tenants have actively resisted against the exploitative and manipulative tactics of various managements and won important victories for their community. An active TPTA member, Pat Moore recalls, “Back then, we successfully staged a rent strike for one year to convert one of the buildings into a tenant-run co-op.” She warns, “If this management doesn’t clean up its act, we won’t hesitate to repeat history.”  

Landlord policies directly attack the tenants’ pockets, at a time when many of them are facing increasingly precarious employment conditions. Such policies include an illegal air conditioning charge of $150 per AC which becomes prohibitive for low-income families trying to survive the heat in high rise apartments. Exorbitant transfer fees, as high as $700, collected from tenants switching suites within a building have forced many families to break up their ties with their neighbours and leave their buildings altogether. Other issues like security concerns, discriminatory behavior of staff and management, maintenance delays and the introduction of visitor parking fees have further fuelled their anger.

This Saturday will witness tenant concerns spill onto the streets of the community, with residents of all ages coming out to raise their voices and demand their rights.