Advocates say those facing demoviction range from young families to people who have lived in one unit for upwards of 30 years.\u00a0(Olivia Bowden\/CBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe city and province say displaced tenants have the right to return to their units at similar prices once redevelopment is complete, and renters are offered financial assistance to pay market rents in the meantime. But those living in buildings that are at risk are still worried about being priced out of their neighbourhoods and frustrated by the forced disruption in their lives.<\/p>\n
“I’m finally at a place in my life where I’m ready to start a family and the fact that the uncertainty of where I’m going to live has put a hold on that is really discouraging and really disheartening,” Kee said.<\/p>\n
What are\u00a0tenants entitled to when they get demovicted?<\/h2>\n
Both the province and city have protections for tenants when they get demovicted.<\/p>\n
According to provincial legislation, if a tenant is being evicted from a building with five or more units, the developer needs to give them three months’ rent or offer them another unit that the tenant is OK with.<\/p>\n
The city says tenants need to be paid a rent gap payment that covers the difference between their previous rent and market rent while they’re displaced.<\/p>\n
Initially, that might sound like an okay deal, said No Demovictions member Lindsay Blackwell, whose family is facing demoviction from their apartment in the Church-Wellesley neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
But Blackwell takes issue with how the gap payment is calculated. The city uses the most recent average rent from Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to calculate the gap. Blackwell says that data is low compared to other aggregates.<\/p>\n
For condo rentals, which Blackwell says is becoming the most likely housing options for many downtown tenants who might be displaced, average rent reports released by the CMHC and Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) in January 2023 provide different figures.<\/p>\n
For a two bedroom rental, the CMHC pegged the average at $2,671, while TRREB had it at $3,178. According to Rentals.ca, the average price of a two bedroom in Toronto went up to $3,433 in August.<\/p>\n
“You’re being put into a market where there’s a lot of competition, there’s a lot of volatility,” she said. “We’re already putting way too much of our monthly income into rental housing.”<\/p>\n
The city did not respond when asked about Blackwell’s criticism about the data used to calculate rent gap payments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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