Protecting Vulnerable Tenants During a Demoviction: What is Happening in Toronto

No Demovictions
7 days ago
4 min read

Jan 23rd update: This item has been deferred at the January 22nd, 2026 Planning and Housing Committee due to a motion put forward by Josh Matlow's office.

Demovictions are stressful and overwhelming for all tenants, but disproportionately harm vulnerable tenants, increasing their risk of homelessness. It is not only our collective moral duty to protect and house the most vulnerable in our communities, but our financial duty as well. If we do not act now, taxpayers will be forced to subsidize even greater costs later on.

A Little Background

In November 2024, the City of Toronto began a consultation process with stakeholder groups (tenant advocates, developers, and tenants impacted by demovictions) to update and revise their rental replacement practices. You can read more about that here. One of the outcomes of that report was a recommendation to explore other supports for vulnerable tenants.

Late last year, a consultation was conducted by Public Progress with multiple stakeholder groups to determine who is considered 'vulnerable' during a demoviction, and what supports those tenants need to remain housed.

Planning and Housing Committee, January 22nd

A set of recommendations from City Staff were be presented at January 22nd's Planning and Housing Committee meeting based on these consultations. While there was a lot to be happy about, they didn't go far enough.

We met with Councillor Matlow's office to put forward a set of recommendations:

Retroactively apply changes for vulnerable tenants to demovictions that do not have signed S111s. Hundreds of demoviction applications that have been approved but have yet to finalize their S111 agreements need to be protected. These buildings represent potentially thousands of vulnerable tenants who will have zero protections or support when they are displaced. 🚨 This is not in the City's recommendations. 🚨
Maintain the additional compensation (4-months average market rent) that is currently available to seniors and tenants with mental and/or physical health disabilities. The additional supports provided to vulnerable tenants should be offered in addition to the compensation, not instead of it. 🚨The City recommends removing this. 🚨
Leasing agents need to be replaced by a housing worker or tenant support coordinator. For-profit leasing agents who work on commission are not an appropriate support for helping vulnerable tenants find adequate, affordable, and accessible housing in their catchment area. Housing workers or tenant support coordinators, who have experience working with vulnerable and marginalized communities, will be able to better support and focus on tenants priorities beyond their own personal interests. 🚨 The city recommends keeping the leasing agent and give them the additional responsibility of organizing transportation for vulnerable tenants to and from viewings. 🚨
Assessment of need has to be done door-to-door, not through a survey. Assessing individual needs requires an in-person approach. Surveys are not adequate or reliable in identifying tenant needs, especially vulnerable tenants. 🚨The City recommends doing a paper survey. 🚨
Post-application tenants who are considered vulnerable should be eligible for additional supports. Buildings with approved applications that have put their redevelopment plans on hold continue to accept new tenants, and it is critically important that when these vulnerable tenants are displaced, more is being done to ensure that they do not become homeless.🚨 This is not in the City's recommendations. 🚨
Tenants with accessibility requirements should be able to view their replacement units prior to signing a new lease. Very few people sign a lease site unseen. Vulnerable tenants, who require their units to be accessible should be able to view the replacement unit before signing a new lease. 🚨 This is not in the City's recommendations. 🚨

Our proposed recommendations aim to address shortfalls in the City’s proposed changes. As rents remain high, wages remain stagnant, and food costs continue to soar, tenants are facing mounting financial pressures and economic challenges.

We continue to urge Councillors to meet the moment.

There cannot be any gaps in support, because any intersectional experience that is not captured by these recommendations risks letting them fall through the cracks. It is better to provide too much support than not enough, because the consequences of getting it wrong are too high.

Motion to Refer Item moved by Councillor Josh Matlow:

1. Planning and Housing Committee refer item PH27.9 to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, in consultation with the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat and request a report to the earliest possible Planning and Housing Committee on:

a. An analysis of the estimated financial value of proposed in-kind supports for tenants with additional housing barriers;

b. Assess the feasibility of providing a combination of financial assistance or in-kind supports or a choice on a case-by-case basis.

c. The outcome of additional engagement with key stakeholders on implementation of individualized in-kind contributions

d. Identification of groups who may have housing barriers who are not currently eligible to receive additional financial compensation under the current framework,

e. Options to accelerate the establishment of a tenant support coordinator service to support tenants with additional housing barriers who are facing displacement, including options for this coordinator to oversee implementation of the individualized in-kind supports contemplated in the report and as set out in Attachment 1 to the report (January 8, 2026) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning.

f. Assess the feasibility of requesting owners extend the proposed changes and in-kind supports to applications which have had a tenant meeting or Rental Housing Demolition application approval without registered section 111 agreements, including the number of potentially impacted applications.