Tenants of Sandy Hill: Come out!

Ethan Mitchell

On Saturday, February 8, posters went up throughout Sandy Hill announcing the creation of a tenant union—the “Tenants of Sandy Hill.” Our group came together following a January 18 tenant organizing workshop, hosted by the Neighbourhood Organizing Centre. We are now taking our first steps to organize tenants in our neighbourhood to fight for stable, dignified, and affordable housing. Our long-term goal is to build up the grassroots political power of tenants in Sandy Hill by connecting with neighbours in our buildings and in our community.

We are motivated by our experience of the housing crisis in our neighbourhood and are inspired by the Bank Block Tenants, the Osgoode Chambers tenants, and other tenant groups across the country. In Sandy Hill, we have seen the rise of a business model centred on short-term tenancies, high rents, and the systematic isolation and disempowerment of tenants. Tenant organizing provides a way to deal directly with the root cause of the crisis—landlords using their economic power to exploit tenants.

Landlords like Smart Living Properties (now rebranding as “Dwell”) have consolidated their hold over the neighbourhood. We have seen buildings targeted for mass evictions, affordable units destroyed, and tenants unable to pay higher rents forced out. Many smaller landlords have also become more aggressive in their drive to increase rents. They too are evicting tenants in order to bring in higher-paying tenancies, often by claiming in bad faith that a family member is moving into the unit.

While landlords are aided by big property management companies like Sleepwell and Fahel and Co, tenants are left to navigate a complex and inaccessible legal system on our own. Tenants in Sandy Hill are often forced to sign new lease agreements each year.

And they are prevented from going month-to-month. Many face illegal fees, cleaning and maintenance issues, and attempts to “blacklist” tenants by refusing to provide references. Many landlords are all too happy to capitalize on this situation. They count on the fact that they will not be challenged.

We have come together because profiteering by landlords is damaging our neighbourhood. The Tenants of Sandy Hill want to show that it is we, the people who live in the neighbourhood, who will shape its future.

We believe that tenants share a common interest in supporting one another to take collective action in our buildings and beyond. Whether we are workers, students, seniors, or other community members, we are facing the same housing issues.

Our vision is a neighbourhood where tenants are secure in our housing, connected to our neighbours, and where regular people are empowered in our homes and in the community at large. If we want to improve things, we need to get organized. This is what the Tenants of Sandy Hill intend to do.

You can reach the Tenants of Sandy Hill at: tenantsofsandyhill@gmail.com. You can also find us on instagram at: @tenants_of_sandy_hill.