On Friday, April 5th, 2024, at a Planning and Housing Committee meeting, No Demovictions were advocating for a motion to be passed that would use secondary market data to calculate rent gap payments, require developers to double the rental replacement units in buildings that are demolished and redeveloped, as well as other protections for demovicted tenants.
The primary focus of the motion was how we calculate rent gap payments (the compensation given to tenants during the time of displacement in a demoviction), as well as the reliance on bad CMHC data. Currently, we only use primary market data, which does not reflect the current rental market rates, forcing tenants to pay up to hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars a month out of their own pockets. Secondary market data tends to be higher, hence our support for this motion.
However, in advance of the meeting, Councillor Matlow and his office put together a motion in collaboration with City Planning staff and No Demovictions that would feasibly increase rent gap payments by using primary market data for purpose-built rental units built after 2015. As you can imagine, these rent rates are much closer to the realities of the current rental market. We are happy to report that this motion has passed! (see the motion details below -primarily outlined in item 1):
It is not often that we get to report good news, but we are grateful to secure this massive win for demovicted tenants! We want to thank Councillor Matlow, Sebastien, Andrew, and every City Planning staff member who made this motion possible. It is fundamentally important that we continue to seek out new and innovative ways to protect tenants at a municipal level. Despite the Province's determination to strip municipalities of their planning powers, this motion highlights what we can do when we work together.
You can watch Item 10 at the Planning and Housing Committee (starts at 6:31:39) on April 5th here.
While this is a major victory for tenants across the city, ensuring that they shoulder less of the financial burden of being displaced, it is still important to note that our work is not done.
Not only do the particulars in this motion need to be nailed down, to ensure that details like 'outcomes' and 'reasonable attempts' are defined and measurable, but we need to recognize that the individual and systemic harms that demovictions cause are not addressed by this motion alone.
If you want to be notified of what you can do next to support this motion as well as future actions, please sign up for our newsletter in the footer of our website. In the meantime, here is a joyful photograph of us after a long day at City Hall:
Thank you all so much for supporting us and the work that we do.