Smart Living aka Dwell triggers protest with more evictions

Ethan Mitchell

Smart Living Properties, an Ottawa property management company, is attempting to carry out another multi-property eviction, this time on Bank Street. Sandy Hill residents have likely come across evidence of the tenants’ resistance.

Posters denouncing the company and its major figures have spread throughout Ottawa, including to Sandy Hill, as depicted in the September 2024 issue of IMAGE. Windows on Bank Street between Lisgar and Nepean streets now sport bright orange signs with defiant messages, such as: “WE LIVE HERE.” Black spray paint covers the exterior of the buildings where the landlord has attempted to cover messages in support of the tenants.

This is likely not the first time that many in Sandy Hill are hearing of the company—Smart Living Properties (SLP) has a local history.

SLP raised concern in 2020 when it oversaw the eviction of tenants at the Osgoode Chambers rooming houses. The Ottawa Citizen’s Blair Crawford reported on this in May 2022 with a story headlined “Four Sandy Hill rooming house deaths highlight tragedy of renovictions” and IMAGE’s Larry Newman reported on it in the April 2022 issue (“Update: evictions, deaths, and investigations at 168 and 170 Osgoode St.”) and in the March 2024 issue (“Renovictions, deaths and now, charred wood.”)

They have since rebranded. Residents of Sandy Hill may have noticed that SLP buildings, including those on Osgoode Street, now have signs reading “Dwell” and “Fahel & Co.”

“Smart Living has rebranded once before,” says Josh Hawley, a local tenant organizer. “Landlords can put a new name at any time on any of their properties. Rebranding obfuscates ownership and helps reduce the risk for investors after a large public campaign organized by tenants.”

At the same time that they are undergoing this rebrand, SLP is once again attempting to carry out a multi-property eviction, this time in Centretown. Residents of 227 Bank St. and 178 Nepean St. in Centretown were issued N13 eviction notices at the end of October 2023 by SLP. These notices came after SLP founder and CEO Tamer Abaza purchased their block through a holding company in 2022.

Tenants of the two buildings formed a tenant union called the Bank Block Tenants (BBT) in 2023, calling for the eviction orders to be dropped. Despite repeated attempts by BBT to engage in a meeting with Tamer Abaza, he and other SLP executives have continued to stonewall.

On November 10, the tenants led a march to Tamer Abaza’s house through his affluent neighbourhood. “I stood outside Tamer’s mansion and asked him why he has refused to meet with the tenants for nine months now,” says Ben Emmond of BBT. “We will keep asking him this question as long as we have voices to ask it with.”

Two months prior, when tenants and community supporters marched to Smart Living’s office, SLP employees locked the doors and drew the blinds. In the words of Eric Roberts, another member of BBT, “We’ve learned over the months of unresponsiveness that in order to get their attention, we have to increase the costs of eviction.”

BBT has been joined by a number of community supporters, including members of the Neighbourhood Organizing Centre (NOC), a group focused on supporting tenant organizing. “Seeing how the tenants show up to support one another and connect with their neighbours has inspired so many of us,” says Megan Smallwood, an NOC member.

SLP’s proposed development went before city council on December 11, following a Planning and Housing Committee meeting on December 4 and a Heritage Committee meeting on December 10, where tenants and community supporters urged councillors to reject the proposal, arguing it would lead not only to the eviction of tenants, but also the further erosion of affordable housing and cultural heritage in the city.

Although the arguments made by the tenants seemed to sway a number of committee members, a last-minute Memorandum of Understanding was negotiated between Councillor Ariel Troster and SLP, which allowed the development to pass. Only Ward 12 Councillor Stéphanie Plante opposed the motion.

The MOU adds a right of first refusal,however the Bank Block Tenants argue that the provisions are completely insufficient. In an open letter to city councillors, they stated that “the MOU being proposed (with no meaningful input from us) does not adequately protect either the tenants or the cultural heritage value of the blockÉ [It] does not bind the developer to pay relocation assistance for every year of displacement. Instead, the MOU only specifies a low flat sum which will be insufficient to cover more than a few months of market-rate rent. This is critical support needed since SLP is notorious for stalled projects and financial mismanagement.”

The tenants are undeterred and will continue fighting, as they have been for two years. Sandy Hill residents will hear more about Bank Street and Smart Living Properties/Dwell over the coming months.