Latest news with #tenantsrights
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
TNT endorsement: Here's our pick for Tacoma's City Council Pos. 5
This year, voters in parts of East and South Tacoma have a choice between two approaches to some of Tacoma's most pressing problems. This race, which is for City Council Pos. 5, is one of two primary races where an incumbent is challenged by someone with experience organizing in the community. The News Tribune Editorial Board is endorsing the incumbent, Joe Bushnell. He won this newspaper's endorsement during his first election, and he's earned it again this time. Bushnell, 35, combines an eye for reform and the insights gained from experience, making a strong case for his ability to be an effective council member. His familiarity with recent reforms to housing policy makes him well suited to oversee their rollout. Those include Home in Tacoma Phase 2, the city's multi-pronged approach to increasing affordable housing, and the recent votes over tenant's rights reforms. Bushnell lists his work on those two issues among the biggest accomplishments of his first term. He also has a well rounded perspective on how different problems in the city play off of each other. For example, he listed services that keep people out of homelessness, improved police recruitment and retention and investment in services that lift up youth and the community to prevent crime. Bushnell also touts his work on lowering response times to 911 calls through efforts to fill vacant law enforcement jobs. The board hopes that, if re-elected, Bushnell will combine his laudable long-term vision on crime reduction with attention to the impact of crime today. Bushnell is endorsed by mayor Victoria Woodards and five other sitting members of city council; County Executive Ryan Mello, U.S. Rep. Marilyn Strickland and a slate of local state lawmakers and state agency heads also endorse him. A product of Tacoma and Stadium High School, Bushnell served in the U.S. Marine Corps before transitioning to civilian life and a job with the Washington Hospitality Association. Zev Cook, the other candidate who participated in the endorsement process, talked about policy ideas that hew to the platform of the Tacoma and Pierce County Democratic Socialists of America. That group also endorses her. Those policies include raising the minimum wage in Tacoma, and creating a public social housing developer to help achieve her goal of building 25,000 affordable homes. Zev, who will turn 26 in September, is also a proponent of an excessive income tax on big businesses, which resembles what's commonly called a wealth tax. The editorial board was split on the merits of her ambitious policy proposals, but agreed that there wasn't a realistic way forward for many of them in Tacoma's current fiscal and political landscape. What's more, her lack of experience in government stands out during an election year when four council seats and the choice of a new mayor will be on the ballot. Cook describes herself as a community organizer who has worked as a shelter manager and case worker for people experiencing homelessness. She's no doubt familiar with the struggles many Tacoma residents face and her clear commitment to finding solutions is praiseworthy. She has the endorsement of several unions, and two other city council candidates in other races. Those are Silong Chhun, who is also challenging an incumbent in district 4, and Latasha Palmer who is running for Pos. 6, an at-Large seat on city council. Brandon Vollmer is also running, but did not participate in the endorsement interview process. The News Tribune Editorial Board is: Laura Hautala, opinion editor; Stephanie Pedersen, TNT president and editor; Jim Walton, community representative; Justin Evans, community representative; Bart Hayes, community representative. Solve the daily Crossword
CBC
14-07-2025
- CBC
Advocates say many renovictions go uncounted in N.S.
A Halifax woman is fighting her renoviction as other tenants in buildings owned by her landlord face the same eviction attempts. Nicola Seguin has the story.
The Guardian
14-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
I was on New York's rent board. Zohran Mamdani's ideas aren't pie in the sky
During the New York City mayoral primary campaign, Zohran Mamdani's proposal for a citywide rent freeze became a contentious topic. The Democratic nominee says to achieve a cap on annual rent increases for the city's 1m rent-stabilized apartments, he would appoint members to the city's rent guidelines board who support it. Critics decry a rent freeze as a pie-in-the-sky, unrealistic proposal. I served as a rent guidelines board member for nearly four years, appointed by then mayor Bill de Blasio in 2018. And it's clear this controversy isn't just about rent freezes – there's a larger agenda to deregulate rent-stabilized housing, under which rent ceilings prevent landlords from raising the rent too high and tenants must be offered renewal leases (unless the landlord shows legal reason not to). In 2023, a report revealed that half of New Yorkers couldn't afford basic needs such as housing, transportation, food and healthcare. This is the New York that I grew to know intimately before I joined the board. I'd been a tenants' rights attorney for years under the city's right-to-counsel program, representing hundreds of low-income families facing eviction who could not afford their own attorneys. Each week, I entered housing court to find my clients – families with toddlers, seniors with disabilities and food delivery drivers – anxiously awaiting possible eviction. It's not just low-income tenants at the mercy of landlords. Over the last 12 years, I've listened to thousands of stories and the one common thread is how easy it is for a moderate-income person to wind up homeless. Sudden unemployment, unexpected disability coupled with a rent increase, and now you're fighting like hell to survive housing court and not join the 350,000 homeless New Yorkers. For these New Yorkers, a rent freeze isn't some out-of-touch idea; it's a lifeline. The people who make that decision are nine board members, all appointed by the mayor – two tenant members (my former role), two landlord members and five public members whom the tenants and landlord members vie to win over to reach a majority vote. We don't rely on feelings or vibes – we're poring over reports and hours of public testimony, and engaging in spirited policy debates. In 2020, those reports revealed record unemployment spurred by the pandemic and an already high homelessness rate and rent burden (most tenants were paying 30% or more of their income on rent). Weighing that with landlord operating costs, the board voted to approve a rent freeze that year, and a partial rent freeze (for six months) the following year. In fact, the board voted for a rent freeze four times over the last 10 years under the de Blasio administration (the board votes every summer on these rent levels and they take effect in the fall). This is why criticisms of Mamdani's rent freeze ring hollow for me – it's painted as out of touch, yet there's already a precedent, backed by government reports and data. It is essential for the public to understand that there is a broader agenda behind the 'rent freezes are bad' argument. Undermining freezes is part of a larger goal to weaken rent stabilization, which landlords have consistently sought to do – and they were nearly successful recently. While I was on the board, landlords sued the rent guidelines board and all of its members (including me!) in federal court, claiming that rent stabilization amounted to an 'unconstitutional taking': if the government tells me how much I can increase my rent by and when I can terminate a lease, then the government is interfering with my private property without just compensation, the argument goes. For years, there had been whispers that New York landlords were rubbing their hands together, eager to devise ways to get such a case before the US supreme court – and this one came dangerously close. I still remember when I got the call four years after the case traveled its way up the federal appeals court chain: 'The court declined to hear the case!' Supreme court cases aren't selected in a vacuum – the court often grants certiorari , or agrees to hear a case, when there is a broad public interest, leading some parties to drum up support for their cause strategically. When I was on the board, I often heard the dichotomy of the good landlord versus the bad tenant. It's become so popular, you've probably been inundated with these stories too. 'Professional tenants' who sign a lease, then never pay rent. TikToks about tenants leaving an apartment in disarray. Squatters. Rent-stabilized tenants who are secretly wealthy, gaming the system by paying low rent. All designed to lead you to the conclusion that 'rent stabilization shouldn't exist'. You'd never know that the median household income for rent-stabilized tenants is a modest $60,000. Or that eviction rates are so high that the New York City housing court doesn't have enough judges to handle the volume of cases it sees daily. Just last year, in yet another case that landlords asked the supreme court to review, the court declined, but Justice Clarence Thomas signaled the court would be interested in hearing a rent stabilization challenge and even provided a legal roadmap for how to bring it. Landlords don't want to reform rent stabilization – they want it done away with. At the end of the day, when the goal is profit and power is unchecked, it will be profits over people. Mamdani's proposals are a threat to the real estate industry because they signal a mayorship that doesn't ascribe to the tenet that government must sit back and let the market come to its own conclusion – all while millions of New Yorkers are trying to avoid housing court. Leah Goodridge is a former member of the New York City rent guidelines board and an attorney who spent 12 years in legal services representing tenants
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Halifax tenants in 'precarious housing situations' band together to fight renovictions
Late last year, multiple tenants in small apartment buildings around Halifax got similar letters from their new landlord, stating their leases would soon be terminated. But no reasons were given. This didn't sit right with Amanda Rose, who has been renting her one-bedroom apartment in the city's north end for almost six years. "It seemed targeted," Rose said in a recent interview at her Cunard Street apartment. "It seemed like it was targeted toward the tenants who had been here the longest and were paying the lowest rent amount." Rose knew four people in her eight-unit building had received the letter. When she knocked on some doors, she found tenants in four other buildings recently purchased by the same landlord, PreCor Property Management, were facing eviction attempts as well. Rose said they started communicating in an email chain and offering information and support to others in "precarious housing situations." Some contested the legality of letters, which were withdrawn by the landlord. Then came renoviction attempts for Rose and others. Six months later, Rose is still living in her unit, fighting her renoviction. A residential tenancy officer ruled in her favour in May, saying the renoviction did not appear to be in good faith. But her landlord appealed the decision to small claims court. A new hearing will occur in the coming months. "Fighting these renovictions, it's not only something that I'm doing because it's in my best interest and it allows me to have that safe, stable, secure housing, but it also is to protect the right to housing for all of my neighbours, too," she said. Sydnee Blum, a community legal worker with Dalhousie Legal Aid Service in Halifax, said she's representing one of the tenants in the appeal. Blum estimates up to 24 tenants of PreCor Property Management are impacted. "When it's happening to multiple buildings at a time, this is, to us, part of a systematized effort to evict long-term tenants, do cosmetic upgrades on a building and then rent them for higher rents," Blum said. "And this is what we see in the classic renoviction, or flipping of apartment buildings." Nova Scotia's Registry of Joint Stocks shows the director, president, and secretary of PreCor Property Management is Mitchell Hollohan, whose business address is listed in Halifax. Property records show Hollohan owns at least 21 properties under his own name and under various numbered companies. Hollohan did not respond to an interview request about the evictions and the condition of the buildings where renovations are planned. Asbestos claims Rose said the landlord approached some tenants in February and asked them to sign an agreement to end their tenancy for renovations, stating an environmental assessment found asbestos in the building. He offered the compensation required by the Nova Scotia government, and some additional money. Rose, who pays just over $1,000 monthly for her unit, knew she wouldn't be able to find a new rental anywhere close to that amount. She didn't sign the agreement and asked for a copy of the asbestos report and the building permits. "I've been living here for six years, the building has had lots of renovations done throughout that time," she said. "The unit downstairs was converted into an Airbnb.... There was new backsplash put in, new sink, new counters, walls were painted. "Never once was asbestos mentioned to us in that time." Rose said she still hasn't seen the landlord's report, just an email saying asbestos was found, sent from an inspector who previously worked for Hollohan. In early May, Rose paid $425 for independent asbestos testing in the building. CBC News reviewed the report, which found no asbestos. CBC also requested a copy of Hollohan's report, but did not receive a response. The actions appear to be an attempt to displace lower-paying tenants, make cosmetic upgrades, and subsequently re-rent the units at higher rates. - Residential tenancy officer Lori Prest After Rose and another tenant took their dispute with PreCor Property Management to the province's Residential Tenancies Program, the residential tenancy officer dismissed the renovictions. "The actions appear to be an attempt to displace lower-paying tenants, make cosmetic upgrades, and subsequently re-rent the units at higher rates," Lori Prest wrote in her decision, which Hollohan appealed. The tenants are now awaiting the appeal hearing to be held in the coming months. Numbers in dispute According to data gathered by Nova Scotia's Residential Tenancy Program, renovictions are becoming less common. The program only counts renovictions if a hearing is applied for, not if tenants agree to leave and end their tenancy. Still, there have only been 19 applications so far this year. In 2024, there were 84 renoviction hearing applications, compared to 152 in 2023 and 123 in 2022. A department spokesperson said the decline "is largely due to the amendments introduced in 2022 to protect tenants in instances where their landlord tries to use renovations as a reason to terminate a tenancy." "There is very strict legislation in place now about compensation, notice periods, proof that a landlord must provide and penalties for a landlord who doesn't follow the process," spokesperson Susan McKeage said in an email. However, Blum said renovictions are still common, they just aren't always counted in the data. "So, it doesn't capture tenants who are just agreeing to leave. And then it doesn't capture tenants who are on fixed-term leases that are terminated, or who are given illegitimate eviction notices and don't know that they can fight that," Blum said. "There's definitely been a spike this summer in the reports that we're getting of renovictions." Rebecca Hartery lives in another one of PreCor Property Management's buildings. She contested the eviction letter last winter. She said the landlord told another tenant that renovations are coming. She noticed workers recently taking samples from the walls. She said she checks every day if building permits have been issued for her address, waiting for another eviction attempt, while continuing to communicate with the landlord's other tenants. "It feels really frustrating, but it also feels really motivating to make sure that people know their tenant rights and to talk to the people that you live with," Hartery said. "I feel a lot more security and stronger with us communicating and being able to let each other know what's happening because I think it just builds a stronger case." MORE TOP STORIES
CTV News
30-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
‘We're not letting it go': Advocates say government needs to do more to ensure people aren't living in scorching hot apartments
A man carries a case of water bottles between the high rises of St. James Town in Toronto amid a heat wave, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston In the wake of a sweltering heat wave in the Greater Toronto Area, tenant advocates and some lawmakers say more needs to be done to improve temperature regulations for rental units. 'If I didn't have air conditioning, I don't know what I'd do,' Christena Abbott told CP24 in a recent interview. Abbott has asthma and relies on a floor-model air-conditioning unit in her apartment to be able to breathe properly in hot weather. 'We had three days of horrific hot weather. Even with my floor model, I had to turn the fans on,' Abbott said. 'I had a heck of a time trying to cool off.' An East York chapter leader for the tenants rights group ACORN, she said many other renters in the city don't have AC units or may not be able to afford one – a situation she said is not just about comfort, but about safety. 'It's live or die for some of these people,' Abbott said. She shared some of the seniors she speaks with are dealing with the compounded health effects of the heat and lack of sleep. 'A lot of them are not sleeping because they can't. It's too hot. They're over-tired. And that's when you have accidents. That's when you trip and fall,' Abbott said. 'I have talked to a few people in my building, and you know, like, how many showers can you take to try and get your body temperature down?' Temperatures soared across the GTA for several days in mid-June, feeling like the 40s with the humidity. While the sticky weather left many people uncomfortable, it also left others at risk for serious health issues. According to Toronto Public Health, 42 people were treated in emergency rooms for heat-related health problems during the recent heat wave. But Ontario's Office of the Chief Coroner says it's difficult to track how many deaths are related to heat that may have exacerbated pre-existing conditions. AC regulation not yet in effect To some, the lack of regulation around temperatures makes no sense. 'I think that it's negligent of the government,' MPP Catherine McKenney told CP24. 'We can see today extreme heat kills, is deadly. And you know, right now, we know there are people stuck in apartments, in rental units, often older apartments without air conditioning, and it's intolerable and it's dangerous.' McKenney, who serves as the Ontario NDP's shadow minister for housing, pointed out that the government passed a bill two years ago that strengthened tenant rights around air conditioning, but never brought the provisions into effect. Hot apartments An empty pool is seen outside an apartment tower in St. James Town in Toronto amid a heatwave, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press) In 2023, Bill 97 gave renters the right to install air conditioning units if they were not provided by their landlord. The rule came with some stipulations, such as requiring a tenant to notify the landlord in writing and to allow for a rent increase to cover the extra hydro costs if the landlord is responsible for electricity payments. But while the bill passed, McKenney said, the province has still not proclaimed that part of it, meaning the rule is not yet in effect. Ontario's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing did not return emails asking why. Nor did the minister's office. Some have expressed concern around the safety of air conditioning units that may be installed in windows. Back in 2019, a child died when a poorly installed AC unit fell from the window of a Toronto Community Housing building. However Bill 97 requires tenants to ensure the unit has been 'safely and securely' installed. McKenney pointed out a right to air conditioning in one's home is also necessary because there is no requirement for landlords to provide a safe cooling space in a heat wave – be it a recreation room or a lobby – and not all municipalities run cooling centres. 'There is nothing. There is no requirement for air-conditioned space, for safe space during extreme heat,' they said. Toronto working on max heat bylaw Other efforts are underway at the city level to try and help protect renters from extreme heat. Coun. Shelley Carroll moved a motion in 2023 for the city to review its temperature bylaws after visiting residential buildings in her ward where tenants 'were being virtually cooked in their own homes.' Carroll was not available for an interview but her office referred to a recent blog post she wrote on the subject. 'The room where I met with tenants was so unbearably hot that I struggled to think clearly—and I wasn't even the one living there every day,' she wrote. The city is currently looking to implement a maximum heat bylaw which would require landlords to make sure that temperatures stay under 27 C in rental units during the summer months. City staff are currently gathering more information and are expected to report back to council with recommendations around the bylaw later this year. In the meantime, Carroll pointed out the city has a pilot program to provide free portable air conditioning units to eligible low-income seniors who have health conditions that can be worsened by extreme heat. The program is not able to provide AC units to all applicants, and uses a lottery system to determine who gets one. For Abbott, that falls short. She said any senior or person with medical issues that can be made worse by heat should receive an AC unit. 'This is a pilot project. We're not letting it stop there. We're gonna push and push and push,' she said. 'We're not letting it go. This is too important.' - With files from The Canadian Press
