Webster Street ACORN Tenant Union Wins Fight Against Renovictions!

In a BIG victory after a long, hard fought battle against Ontario’s King of Renovictions [Michael Klein], ACORN members living at 1270 and 1280 Webster Street have WON the right to stay in their homes! Nearly two and a half years after Webster tenants first received notice of their building being bought by a new landlord, after countless tenant meetings, rallies, demonstrations, reports, press coverage, deputations, petitions, and countless direct actions, the Webster street ACORN tenant union was able to force their landlord to withdraw the mass N13 evictions – meaning tenants get to STAY!

This was a massive group effort by all 1270 and 1280 Webster ACORN members, but a special thank you goes out to ACORN members Sharon Hodgson, Michele and Tyler Jollymore for providing extraordinary leadership over the campaign, along with ACORN members Marni Skilton, Nancy Gillespie, Gary Labute, Julie Gallagher, Leslie and Amanda Cook for sharing their testimonies with media, politicians and at rallies, and the many more who supported and attended actions over the years.

FIGHTING RENOVICTIONS IN LONDON

ACORN has been fighting against the mass displacement of tenants across London through renovictions since early 2023. Many of the tenants most impacted by bad-faith renovictions have been in their homes for decades, most have fostered deep ties to their neighbours and communities, nearly all have been living in affordable units well below market values. 1270 and 1280 Webster is no exception to this – the vast majority of tenants who call these buildings home are elderly, disabled, or otherwise on fixed income. 

When tenants first received N13s at their doors at 1270 and 1280 Webster, their entire world was flipped upside down. But instead of giving up immediately, tenants took action – reaching out to ACORN, legal clinics, and local representatives for support. In the months and years to follow, tenants joined the ACORN tenant union and began the fight for their home. After some sleuthing, ACORN members discovered that the faceless numbered company that bought 1270 and 1280 Webster street buildings was none other than Michael Klein. 

Labelled Ontario’s Biggest Renovictor, Michael Klein has become known for making renovictions his business. He buys reasonably affordable housing on the private market, mass evicts long-term tenants and replaces them with new tenants he can charge more due to Ontario’s system of vacancy de-control. Information on Michael Klein is near impossible to find. The notorious landlord avoids detection by hiding behind numbered companies, creating new corporations for every building he buys, and providing seemingly false head office addresses on corporate documents. He uses a variety of tactics to push tenants out before their evictions even reach the hearing stage, including but not limited to: 

• massive hiking of fees for facilities that used to be free like parking or laundry 
• harassing tenants with repeat “inspections” and unnecessary pest treatments (if tenants refuse inspections or treatments, it can be used as grounds to evict)
• Frequent notices on tenants’ doors telling tenants their appliances were illegal, they must pay new fees for AC, their vehicle would be towed, etc, 
• having management knock on doors and harass tenants, telling them they’ll never win in court to dissuade people from waiting for their hearing, and pressuring tenants into taking “deals” where they sign a new lease with much higher rents than before to avoid eviction.
• Neglecting repairs for extended periods of time or leaving repairs half completed to push tenants into leaving for their own health and safety
• Frequent shut offs of water, heat, and electricity with little notice

For a more detailed review of Michael Klein’s playbook, see ACORN’s Report.

Despite the mountain of circumstances stacked against them, ACORN members pressed on – organizing with their neighbors at 1270 and 1280 Webster street along with other tenants across London who were impacted by renoviction. Tenants from across London came together for rally after rally, calling representatives and demanding action to stop these renovictions destroying our communities. ACORN members spoke at city council meetings sharing their stories to fight for anti-renoviction bylaws just like those won by ACORN in other cities like Hamilton. All this work culminated in a huge victory in 2024, when London city council passed the province’s second anti-renoviction bylaw in history! Despite Webster tenants being some of the biggest contributors to this victory, the city refused to make London’s renoviction bylaw retroactive, so Webster tenants would not be protected by the bylaw since their evictions started before it passed.

Despite this, ACORN members persisted – continuing to hold rallies and actions at 1270 and 1280 Webster, joining ACORN members across Ontario to collectively pressure Klein and his management, and mass joining LTB hearings to stand in solidarity with their neighbors from Klein properties across the province who were facing renoviction. 

With the fear of losing their home looming overhead, constant pressure from management, and the living conditions tenants were forced to live in, some tenants left or took a deal to move to a new unit for a significantly higher rent (often 50% higher than their previous living costs or more). But the remaining tenants refused to back down from the fight, organized with ACORN and secured representation from a volunteer paralegal to prepare their case and continue to pressure Klein. This all came to a head when less than a week before tenants’ scheduled renoviction hearing at the Landlord Tenant Board, Webster Apts Inc finally caved to the pressure and withdrew the N13 eviction notices to let tenants stay in their homes!

IMPORTANT TAKEAWAYS

This win was only made possible because of persistent community organizing and direct action. Even when those in power fail us and the law is not on our side, we can still win – but only when we organize!

After tenants reached out to ACORN with concerns about the new owner of 1270 and 1280 Webster street and the sudden eviction notices that followed, an ACORN Organizer started knocking on doors. Very quickly tenants joined ACORN to create a local tenants union with some starting to knock on their neighbours’ doors too. Neighbours were able to get organized by holding regular meetings to discuss important common issues, propose solutions and determine tactics. This led to planning a wide range of actions with tons of media coverage which helped get eyes on the story and put public pressure on the Webster Buildings and Michael Klein.

The solidarity from other ACORN members, tenants, and allies from across the city and across the province exploded our public support which only reinforced the Webster Street ACORN tenants’ union’s efforts. Layering ACORN’s tenant organizing with a legal strategy from volunteer legal supports is a deadly combo for corporate landlords!

These are the steps that need to be taken to fight bad landlords. Because tenant wins don’t often come from the Landlord Tenant Board, they’re won through resistance and by fighting back!

NEXT STEPS

While this was a big win for the remaining Webster tenants and their 40+ affordable homes that were saved, nearly a 100 households left during this process – either taking an early buyout and being forced to rent elsewhere at market rent rates, or by taking a deal for a new renovated unit while paying an unaffordably higher rent. Many of these tenants are now stuck paying hundreds of dollars (even a thousand for some) in extra rent each month for smaller apartments without the community they had lived in for decades. Not to mention Klein is now renting out those once affordable units for three times the old price. THIS is why London is losing 19 units of affordable housing for every unit of housing built. 

In addition to all this, long-term Webster tenants who just won the right to stay in their homes are still worried about another N13 landing on their door, since the city’s current renoviction bylaw doesn’t require landlords to house tenants or help with moving costs if renovations are needed. Tenants are still struggling with issues in these buildings – now that the renovictions have been stopped, management has pivoted to neglecting repairs and forcing tenants to live with leaks, mold, pests, and more issues for months or more. This is another tactic to push long-term tenants out of their homes, and is happening not just in the Webster buildings but all across the City of London.

With the massive growth of large corporate landlords acquiring more and more below market rentals to flip them for profit, and the growing playbook of tactics used to push long term tenants out, the housing crisis we’re in is only getting worse. This is why ACORN members are fighting to put an end to renovictions and the financialization of housing!

BOLD action is needed from every level of government to make this happen:

• The City needs to strengthen our current anti-renoviction bylaw to include requirements for landlords to house tenants in an alternate unit or pay a rental top up so tenants are protected from displacement if the landlord does major renovations
• The City needs to take strong action against slumlords who neglect maintenance – ALL landlords should be licensed, and the City should create a proactive inspection program so the onus is no longer on tenants to report issues (and risk retaliation from their landlord!)
• The Province needs to close rent control loopholes that incentivize landlords to evict long term tenants by implementing vacancy control – this would set a cap on how much landlords can increase rents by when tenants move out.
• The Federal Government needs to create national tenants rights standards including rent controls across all provinces, and set limits to how much housing financialized landlords can acquire.

Want to get involved in the fight for tenant’s rights in London? Reach out to us at [email protected] to get information on the next ACORN chapter meeting near you! We have POWER in our numbers!