Bank Street tenants facing 'demoviction' given 3-week eviction notice

CBC

7 days ago

A protracted fight against the "demoviction" of rent-controlled apartments on Bank Street is ending for a group of holdout tenants, some of whom have been ordered to vacate their units by the end of the month.
"We're at the tragic end where we have to scramble to go and find a place to live and make sure that everybody's homed, and there's only three weeks to do so," said Julie Ivanoff, a PhD student in architecture who has lived in her apartment for four years.
After buying the land in 2022, 211-231 Bank Street Holdings and Smart Living Properties have been seeking to demolish the buildings on a block of Bank Street between Nepean and Lisgar streets.
They've wanted to replace several dozen affordable apartments with a nine-storey mixed-use building that includes 263 much smaller and more expensive rental units.
About a dozen tenants have fought to remain in their homes, turning down buyout offers they say come from a landlord they don't trust and are insufficient compensation for their stabilized rent.
They have also lobbied the city, saying rent-controlled homes are the only thing keeping some tenants from homelessness and that the planned new "micro-units" are no solution to Ottawa's housing crisis.
Their last hope was a hearing at the Landlord and Tenant Tribunal in March, but this week some of the tenants received the board's decision, ordering them to vacate their homes by the end of the month.
'Good faith' demolition
In the Aug. 6 order that Ivanoff received, and which CBC has seen a copy of, the board ruled that the landlords "in good faith intend to demolish the buildings" and granted their application to terminate the tenancy.
Noting that the landlord had requested a termination date in April, the board wrote that "it would be fair to postpone the eviction until Aug. 31."
Some tenants have lived there for decades, are reliant on pensions or disability payments, and may face homelessness if they can't find an affordable option within three weeks, Ivanoff said.
She said the decision also means the end of both a longstanding artists' hub in the space and a vibrant community of neighbours who met several times a week to organize and look out for each other.
"It's brutal to be reduced to a number," she said. "It's like, my income isn't high enough for me to have a greater consideration [in society]. How do you build a community like that?"
CBC contacted Smart Living Properties for comment but did not hear back by deadline.
The company previously said it had offered tenants the right to return to new apartments at the same rent with $20,000 compensation.
The property owner, 211-231 Bank Street Holdings, previously told CBC in a statement that it would be "unreasonable to expect one development project can cater to all the diverse housing needs in the neighbourhood or city."
A high concentration of studio apartments in the development, the company said, would "strategically offer lower-cost entry into newly constructed buildings." It also offered a "generous and comprehensive relocation assistance package" to existing tenants, based on feedback from the community.
With their options to remain seemingly exhausted, the last tenants met on Saturday to begin preparations for moving out.
"What's next is finding a place to live, making sure that none of my neighbours are homeless, seeing if we can find anything that's safe and secure for them," Ivanoff said.
Eric Roberts, another tenant who's lived there since 2017, said he wasn't surprised by the decision of the board.
He said he'll struggle to afford an apartment without rent stabilization when he's forced to leave.
"The rent hike that we are facing on this block — just because these units were fairly deeply rent-controlled — is three to five times what we currently pay," he said.
While he supports the goal of providing more housing in Ottawa, Roberts predicted the new units being proposed would likely end up as short-term rentals that most people can't afford.
"We need housing that is accessible for low-income households, for seniors on fixed incomes, for students who are struggling with debt," he said.