Toronto moves closer to a max heat bylaw, but tenants frustrated by delays
Posted December 9, 2024
Toronto, Ontario – On Thursday, December 5th, 2024, Toronto ACORN members Marcia Stone and Julia Farquharson presented to the City’s Planning & Housing Committee to demand action on extreme heat inside apartment buildings.
On the committee’s agenda was a City staff report recommending the implementation of a maximum heat bylaw that would require landlords to keep their apartments at or below 26°C. This is something tenants have been demanding for years!
But the devil’s in the details: we won’t see a draft of this bylaw come back to City Hall until the fourth quarter of 2025 – after next summer! That’s an unacceptable delay that puts vulnerable tenants at risk.
ACORN members urged the committee to accelerate the timeline, and to fund and launch an emergency free air conditioner program for low-income tenants before summer 2025.
Marcia Stone told the committee: “existing programs are simply too difficult to access. And all these programs require a doctor’s note – something that working people would struggle to get when 2.2 million Ontarians don’t have a family doctor.”
She then asked committee members: “tell me – do you need a doctor’s note to tell you that it’s 40°C in your apartment and you don’t have A/C?”
The motion passed unanimously, without an amendment to the proposed timeline.
Please find the Toronto ACORN’s full statement.
To get involved in our Beat the Heat campaign, contact our office at (416) 461-9233 or tocanvassdir@acorncanada.org.
