Tenants rally as eviction notices sent to Thorncliffe Park residents on 4-month rent strike

Tenants at three East York buildings are rallying at their landlord’s office, Starlight Investments, demanding fair treatment and affordable housing as they begin the fourth month of their rent strike.

Over 100 tenants at 71, 75 and 79 Thorncliffe Park Drive stopped paying rent on May 1 to protest an above-guideline rent increase at the buildings owned by PSP Investments and run by Starlight Investments.

Their landlord had requested a 10 per cent rent increase over the last two years to the Landlord and Tenant Board of Ontario, 4.2 per cent in 2022 and 5.5 per cent in 2023. The maximum rent increase for 2023 and 2024 was set at 2.5 per cent, but landlords can apply for an above guideline increase (AGI).

On Tuesday, dozens of tenants stormed the Starlight offices in the middle of the work day, demanding they stop the rent increase that tenants cannot afford.

“[We’re] extremely struggling. We understand everything is expensive, but we don’t ask them to make it low; we ask them to make it fair, for us and for them, they increase it in a savage way,” said Khalil Aldroubi, a resident since 2015.

Another resident, Jawad Ukani, who has lived in one of the buildings since 2006, said while an increase happens every year, this time, it’s just too high for the families that live there.

“We cannot afford it. We are all low-income to middle-income families, and it’s getting very hard on us financially.”

“It’s a big amount for us. We are on basic wages,” said Harenbran Kamalakumar, who said this increase would push him to his limit.

Starling sent out eviction notices to tenants

In a statement, Starlight Investments said, “We will meet our obligations and remain as committed to protecting tenant rights as we are to enforce our residential contracts.”

“This applies to our commitment to reinvesting in our communities and ensuring that the buildings themselves continue to meet the needs of today’s renters and our residents of the future,” continued the statement.

When asked whether improvements had been made to the building, Aldroubi said, “The one improvement they do [is] make the buildings shiny and nice from the outside, but [it’s] full of bed bugs, cockroaches, broken cabinets, [and] broken floors [on the] inside.”

“How dare a company that makes billions of dollars try to squeeze money out for renovations. They knew they had to do before they bought the building,” added Auwai.

Rally organizer, Philip Zigman, said Starlight and PSP sent evictions notices to tenants on the rent strike.

“Instead of withdrawing the above-guideline rent increases or even meeting with tenants as a group to negotiate, Starlight and PSP have made the decision to try and evict Thorncliffe Park families,” said Zigman.

“Many tenants in the building have lived there for 10, 20, 30 years; it’s their home, it’s their community.”

Eviction hearings aren’t expected to begin until December, and advocates say they will hold as many rallies as needed to get the message across.

It’s not the only rent strike happening right now in Toronto. Some residents of 33 King Street and 22 John Street have withheld rent from their landlord Dream Unlimited Corp.

Dream Unlimited Corp., which owns both buildings, said it “inherited” a dispute between the striking tenants and the previous landlord when it bought 33 King Street in 2021. It said the dispute is over above-guideline increases for 2018, 2019 and 2021.

At 22 John Street, where 15 per cent of tenants haven’t paid rent, Dream notes that the building is not subject to provincial rent guidelines because its build was completed after 2018.

With files from The Canadian Press and Meredith Bond