{"id":11939,"date":"2023-05-01T11:27:07","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T15:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/?post_type=news&p=11939"},"modified":"2023-05-01T11:40:55","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T15:40:55","slug":"toronto-com-tenants-are-living-through-hell-toronto-acorn-members-occupy-apartment-landlords-north-york-office","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/news\/toronto-com-tenants-are-living-through-hell-toronto-acorn-members-occupy-apartment-landlords-north-york-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto.com: ‘Tenants are living through hell’: Toronto ACORN members occupy apartment landlord’s North York office"},"content":{"rendered":"

Group’s annual report says 60% of apartment dwellers faced repair issues<\/em><\/p>\n

Standing in Medallion Corporation\u2019s foyer on April 20, taping letters and a banner on walls, members of Toronto ACORN chanted for the company\u2019s CEO to appear and meet them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAaron Bleeman, do not hide,\u201d they shouted toward offices where employees of the North York-based developer and property management company waited for the protest to end.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo the work you\u2019re supposed to do,\u201d Marcia Stone, the advocacy group\u2019s Weston chapter co-chairperson added through a megaphone.<\/p>\n

\u201cTenants are living through hell every single day!\u201d<\/p>\n

Before a squad of police arrived and the occupation ended peacefully, tenants and an ACORN (Association of Concerned Organizations for Reform Now) organizer handed a Medallion administrator a 200-signature petition.<\/p>\n

\u201cLandlords shouldn\u2019t need us to do this just to get their attention and get basic needs met,\u201d said Robin McDowell, a Medallion tenant who travelled from Birchmount Road in Scarborough to the company headquarter on Lawrence Avenue West.<\/p>\n

Medallion is far from the only large landlord Toronto ACORN has criticized<\/a> and issues in the petition, including \u201cunreliable and unaccountable security, ineffective pest management,\u201d and \u201cineffective heating in units\u201d are familiar to many tenants of the city\u2019s aging rental highrises.<\/p>\n

ACORN\u2019s annual State of Repair report, released April 27, says 60 per cent of tenants responding to its survey \u201cfaced issues getting repairs done in their building in the past 12 months\u201d and almost 42 per cent complained of lack of heat in winter.<\/p>\n

The group initially welcomed the city\u2019s RentSafeTO program, which passed in 2017 and includes proactive inspections, as a good first step in policing landlords. It now says RentSafeTO falls short of what ACORN\u2019s program proposal, Landlord Licensing<\/a>, could do for apartment tenants.<\/p>\n

Medallion did not respond to requests for comment, but its website says it is \u201ccommitted to the highest standard in maintaining and caring for our assets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s property management team, it adds, \u201ccombines training experience and pride to achieve the ultimate in tenant satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toronto ACORN said issues of \u201cunsuitable living conditions\u201d brought to the April 20 protest were raised at other protests at St. Jamestown buildings in November and December and communicated to Medallion.<\/p>\n

The group said the company responded by saying it prefers to speak to individual tenants. ACORN said Medallion had ignored its requests for a meeting.<\/p>\n

During the protest, Josephine Quisquisan, a Medallion tenant downtown, read the addresses of the company\u2019s apartment buildings through a megaphone and later said she was there on behalf of seniors who couldn\u2019t fight for themselves.<\/p>\n

A few days later, McDougall was by the front doors of her Scarborough building, showing visitors where uneven concrete collects water and in winter, she said, creates an icy patch she has fallen on.<\/p>\n

She said she also complained to management about the heat in her unit last December, when was forced to push blankets against the outer walls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI even bought a little thermometer for the room so I could prove it\u2019s not the legal standard,\u201d McDowell said.<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

Article by Mike Adler for Toronto.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","front_page_slider":[],"campaigns":[62],"featured_news":[],"class_list":["post-11939","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","campaigns-housing-tenant-unions"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/11939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"front_page_slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/front_page_slider?post=11939"},{"taxonomy":"campaigns","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campaigns?post=11939"},{"taxonomy":"featured_news","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acorncanada.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_news?post=11939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}