Olivia Chow is coming for Toronto slumlords
A new motion will allow the city to order repairs of dangerous building conditions and make landlords cover the costs
Mayor Olivia Chow has introduced a new motion directed at city landlords who do not sufficiently maintain their properties.
At yesterday’s executive committee meeting, Chow unveiled the “Cracking Down on Bad Landlords” motion, saying, per the Toronto Star’s reporting, “We have to send a message to these slumlords that we will not tolerate their behaviour. We have to act now.”
The motion seeks to create a public database to track investigation and enforcement at Toronto addresses where there have been reports of disrepair. Chow noted that, in cases where landlords own multiple properties, all would be identified as “problem buildings” and monitored for signs of neglect.
Chow specifically called out Carolyn Krebs, the landlord of 500 Dawes Road in East York, where for years tenants have reported deteriorating conditions, including mould, bedbugs, mice and dangerous structural issues. Earlier this month, the Star reported that Canada Post would no longer deliver mail to the building, citing employee safety as the reason.
Chow’s motion instructs city staff to pursue remedial action at the 14-storey, 332-unit apartment building and hire contractors for repairs, with costs being added to the landlord’s property taxes.
Related: Olivia Chow wants to reclaim Toronto’s garbage bins
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
