Over 150 tenants at MetCap buildings in Parkdale have been on a rent strike since May 1, 2017.  Some may have read this story in Vice by Alykhan Pabani and Sarah Berman.  Right now the rent strikers need to raise money to be able to continue their strike and they need your support. 

 According to Pabani, ‘the building has been deteriorating and Metcap doesn’t really listen requests for repairs. When they do repairs it’s always the cheapest, most temporary option. There are holes in the walls, leaks that are damaging the floors and ceilings, appliances that aren’t working, and pests in the buildings.  MetCap has refused to maintain the elevator properly and there’s no wheelchair ramp in the building.  Pabani has seen people crawling up the front stairs of the building, which is humiliating and painful.   MetCap also turns the water off once or twice a week, for approximately eight hours at a time.” 

What really got to people though was that, using the excuse to pay for repairs, tenants have had  two “above-guideline rent increases” in five years.   “A lot of people can’t afford these increases. When an old tenant that might have been paying $900 leaves, they can turn around and charge the next person $1,400. They reset the price at whatever the market can bear. There’s incentive to push us out, so they’re doing everything they can to get rid of us. There’s this lack of respect—we’re clearly not wanted in these buildings.”

The gofundme is for a rent strike defense fund is being raised on behalf of this group of striking tenant—each of which will be charged an upcoming fee of $190 at the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board.