‘Not acceptable,’ displaced Swansea Mews tenants say questions left unanswered after town hall

Anxious and angry west-end Toronto residents say they did not learn anything about their fate at a town hall meeting with housing officials on Tuesday night.

Hundreds of displaced tenants of Swansea Mews met with Toronto Community Housing Corp. (TCHC) and city officials at Humber College’s Lakeshore Campus, but residents tell CityNews they left feeling dissatisfied after trying to get answers about when they can return to their homes.

“The answers we got were not acceptable,” says resident Andrea McInnis. “They knew this meeting was going to happen and they knew what our questions were. I don’t know what they did but they did not come with any answers for us.”

“You need to tell us something better than what you’ve been telling us.”

Many residents from the TCHC complex are staying in dorm rooms at the Humber Lakeshore Campus in Etobicoke. TCHC has previously said they would be offering permanent accommodations for the more than 400 displaced individuals.

But, tenant Sharon Smith says she still does not know where she will be living with her two dogs beyond June 24, and says she is not happy that reporters were not allowed inside the meeting.

“They tell the media one thing, but came to us with something totally different,” Smith says.

Shoring jacks hold up the concrete ceiling inside a unit at the Swansea Mews complex. CITYNEWS/Tony Fera

The Swansea Mews tenants were forced to evacuate their homes when the complex was deemed uninhabitable after structural engineers found concrete ceilings in the units are at risk of collapsing. Some residents tell CityNews there have been years of issues at the buildings that have been neglected, including ceiling collapses, fires, and leaks.

One resident is still in the hospital with serious injuries when the concrete ceiling in their unit in “Block H” of the complex collapsed and struck them on May 27. The incident prompted Toronto’s Chief Building Official (CBO) to issue an order requiring all remaining tenants to leave for an extended period.

McInnis says the ceiling in her own unit collapsed a month before the incident that injured her neighbour.

“Somebody has to step up for us, and nobody is stepping up,” she says.

The family of the injured tenant attended the town hall and say the lack of communication from housing officials has been “embarrassing” and “sad.”

“They actually didn’t even give us the location of the meeting,” says Roshawna Ho-Sue, the sister of the injured resident. “We had to get it from a tenant. We were supposed to be reached out to by coordinators at housing, whenever we try to see them they have been refusing to see us.”

Ho-Sue says her sisters ceiling was leaking five years ago when she moved into the unit.

“Her kids can’t get any of their belongings because there is also asbestos. Everything in her house cannot be retrieved,” she says.

Tuesday night’s town hall meeting was attended by members of TCHC’s leadership team, including CEO and President Jag Sharma, and the City of Toronto’s Chief Building Official.

“This was another important meeting, with tenants expressing their frustrations with information gaps and concerns with the timelines TCHC is proposing for relocation,” said Sharma in a written statement following the town hall.

“Above all else, I am grateful to tenants for continuing to engage with us in this process. We recognize that this is a highly disruptive and stressful time and we are committed to supporting tenants through this difficult time.”

City Councillor Gord Perks was also in attendance and tells CityNews the city is working hard to find proper accommodations for everyone.

“As you can imagine, mobilizing to do this when we already have a housing crisis in Toronto is a lot of work.”

With files from Kaitlin Lee, Meredith Bond and Mark McAllister