Homeless in the GTA: Finding affordable housing especially tough for women

Another article about the lack of "affordable housing" in the Toronto Star today.

Geez, I wish people would WAKE UP and LISTEN!!!!

A big part of the problem is NOT affordability. As several commenters on the article have noted, there are plenty of places listed for rent in Oshawa in the less than $700/ month range.

As I have explained many, many times, both here and in the many letters and emails I have sent to reporters and to politicians -  only one of whom has deigned to even respond (and that was a I'll look into it and get back to you later) - while affordability is ONE issue, it is far FAR from the only one....

for small landlords in Ontario, it makes no sense whatsoever to rent to tenants like the woman described in the article.

Even if she could afford a considerably higher priced apartment, landlords still wouldn't rent to her.

“Most landlords don’t want to rent to people from shelters. Bad credit is another problem; many people have been evicted in the past. It makes it very hard to find places for these women. It’s a long process (to get into affordable housing). If they are not abused, just homeless, they have to wait years and years, with no other option than rental properties.”

Bad credit, evictions, children.... and a "fair & balanced system" that does not and will not support landlords if/when there are problems...

oh yeah... and your only income source is one that we can't garnishee. Uh yeah.... will get RIGHT on that.

As long as the LTB and the Sheriff's Offices think it's just hunky dory fine to take months to do their jobs (if they even bother) so that when there is a problem, it doesn't get resolved until it's cost us THOUSANDS ... and as long as they slow down even moreso the instant there is a child involved....

As long as the entire system demands that we continue to provide these people with all amenities to which they would be entitled if they were paying rent when they are not...

As long as OW/ODSP continues to pay shelter allowances to people who don't pay shelter COSTS (your tax dollars at work) and therefore add to the motivation to screw landlords over...

HOW could you possibly expect me to rent to these people?

I am a left wing, card carrying member of the NDP. I have worked for years and years in social services. I have housed single moms and women with serious mental illnesses in my own home, even.  And I have rented to people with disabilities, mental illnesses, and yes, single moms...

I would love to be able to continue to do so.

It sickens me that I cannot.

But I can't afford to take the risk as long as the situation remains as it is in Ontario.

I am not unique....  well, aside from the fact that I am a leftie  - definitely a minority among the landlords I know....

when it gets so bad that even I could not/would not do a dang thing for women like the one featured in the article, you know it's bad.

The Liberal government can tell us all they want that the system is "fair & balanced" ... it is most assuredly not.....   and I am so very sorry that this means that children are sleeping in parks and shelters .... but hey ...I have been trying to get someone to listen. I have offered low/no cost solutions....  things that would make it possible for me to rent to people on assistance again...

but no one listens. So hey....what can I do?

Discriminate, or sell. Got any other ideas?

If I make a bad choice in who to rent to....

Thought I would unpack that statement - "if I make a bad choice in who to rent to..." which I used in yesterday's blog post - a little bit more...

There's a lot that can be said about it, actually.

First of all, given the Ontario Liberal's messed up notion of "fair & balanced" which results in lengthy and expensive delays in evicting tenants who fail to pay rent, and the fact that OW and ODSP are totally non-coverable, clearly, renting to anyone in receipt of assistance is a huge risk that most small landlords cannot possibly justify.

Which sucks - my preference, actually, tends to be people that really need a break - and especially, single moms. I was there...raised my kids on my own from before the youngest was born until they were more or less growed up.

We have a 3 bedroom and a 4 bedroom - and both of them were rented to single moms on OW and I - stupidly - was fine with that; in fact, I gave them preference because they needed it more than other applicants. If you've read my blog, you'll know how well that turned out..... NOT.  Won't be doing that again!

So ... bad choice #1 is clearly anyone on any sort of government assistance that can't be garnisheed.

But there is more to the issue.

We landlords talk a lot about credit checks also - no credit check, no rental agreement. But what concerns me about that is the fact that in the case of deadbeats like my oh so charming dirt squirrel, even if someone actually does a credit check on her, her debt to me will not show up. At all.

I have yet to find a way to ensure that the orders against her get to her credit report. I've been told, actually, that the credit reporting agencies won't even take LTB orders! Don't know if that's so ... a collections agency that called here wanting to chase after any deadbeat customers we might have told me that they could get it onto her credit report ... and harass her some... but honestly ... if I'm already out >$9000 ... now you want me to pay MORE money I'll never get back for the privilege of harassing them?  If I won the lottery, I probably would make that one of my first purchases, just cuz ... but since I haven't won the lottery, I think not. Better things to do with my money that throw it down that particular toilet.

And did y'know that there is no way to search for people's eviction/LTB history? Landlords names are posted all over the damn place cuz we are money sucking evil and have no right to privacy - tenants' names are, however, totally confidential.

So unless a case becomes SO notorious that it garners the interest from someone at the Toronto Star....I'm thinking Nina Willis, of course....  it's all a great big secret.

Now, I'm not suggesting that every individual that gets evicted or has orders against them at the LTB should have their name published all over the damn place ....  I actually think that even deadbeats and squatters should have some rights to privacy (or at least their poor kids should - they have enough to deal with already).

But seriously.... how is it fair that landlords are given no reasonable, legal way to check whether an individual is a serial offender/professional deadbeat/dirt squirrel?

I pay taxes which support the Government of Ontario's services - including the LTB, Sheriff's Office, and OW/ODSP. I pay more taxes to support my municipalities' enforcement people (which the ds used to harass us).

When things go bad, none of these agencies to whom I am required to support BOTH through my taxes and user fees help within any sort of reasonable time frame. My 5 month experience is, from all of my research, average at best... if anything, it's probably toward the lower end! OW/ODSP don't help at ALL - in fact, they create part of the problem by continuing to provide the tenant with a winfall for every month they are not paying shelter....  extra money to spend on whatever we want ...WOO HOO!!!

So if you're going to take my money and then not help me ... how 'bout you at LEAST give me a way to know what kind of nightmare I'm about to get myself into?

By refusing landlords any access to such information, you are enabling the deadbeats to STEAL from us.....  and the people you are hurting the most are not the landlords, actually ... but marginalized people who do pay their rent and do need a break... .but who increasingly can't get it because the system is so freaking ~fair & balanced~

And I'm sorry, but telling me that there are laws against discrimination so I can't discriminate against people on OW/ODSP? That is SO not a solution.... but it's way past my bedtime, so that's a post that will have to wait for another day.

Back to my original point... it is pretty damn easy to make a bad choice re: who to rent to...we're not allowed to have the information we need in order to making informed choices. We're also pretty limited in that we can't tell our tenants who they're allowed to hook up with ...so even if we take a chance on a single mom, for example... if she eventually gets into a relationship with someone who has no qualms about bragging that it took his last landlord a year to get him out... nothing I can do about that.

It does not seem fair to me to punish landlords for making bad choices about who to rent to when the agencies we pay (both through taxes and user fees) withhold information, restrict our ability to deal with issues, and hold our properties hostage for months/years while they generate that oh so special useless order that is supposed to solve everything.

Gotta love landlording in Ontario, eh?

Brighter Prospects?

Read a little bit of Ontario Report "Brighter Prospects" ...a report by the Commission for the Review of Social Assistance prepared by Commissioners Frances Lanken and Munir A. Sheikh.

Was looking, of course, specifically for what it says about housing in Ontario. Disappointing. Extremely so, in fact. This section of the report, on page 90 if you're interested, shows a total lack of understanding of WHY people on assistance are having difficulty accessing affordable housing.

Which is not surprising, as they apparently consulted with "stakeholders" -  i.e. people on assistance, most of whom have extremely limited understanding of why landlords refuse to rent to them, having rarely had the opportunity to be on the other side of the landlord-tenant relationship. My perspective - back when I was a single mother (albeit working, rather than on assistance) was very different than it is now that I am on the other side of the deal - I did not have a CLUE...

So it does not surprise me that the majority of low income people seeking housing don't get it.

The others who were provided the opportunity for input, however, should have done better.

Better yet, someone should have asked the landlords what the problem is and how to fix it. Because I'm sorry, but the recommendation that is offered will not do it. What they are suggesting is a housing benefit for not only those on assistance, but "all people with low-incomes." 

Guess what? We will still refuse to offer affordable housing to people on assistance. Those of us who have been burned - and all of those who haven't but have heard about our experiences and realize how easily it could happen to them - will continue to rent to people with jobs and NOT to people on OW/ODSP.  It doesn't matter how much money you give to people on assistance in Ontario for rent - it is not worth the risk, and we know it.

And you can cry discrimination and make laws against discrimination all you want - but the reality is that not all landlords are independently wealthy. Many, like me, cannot AFFORD to provide housing to people on assistance - because when it goes bad, it goes really, REALLY bad, and there is no help at all for us in Ontario. Everyone wants money - but no one actually DOES anything to help, at least not in any reasonable period of time.

The money that my last tenant-from-hell cost me was about 1/3 of my gross income for a year. Gross. Not net. How would YOU like to take a hit like that? Yeah, I thought not.

At least, if you rent to someone with a job and a good credit rating and it goes bad, you have some small hope of recovery. It might take a long time and a lot of hassle - but we will eventually likely get at least some of our money back.

If you rent to someone with neither of those things, when it goes bad, you get to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars  - and continue to provide them with housing and all amenities for the months it takes to get them out - and for the damages they do during that time.... and you have ZERO chance of recovery at the end of it. Ever.

It is not even worth paying to file the order that the Legalized Theft Board will eventually give you against them ...which is a shame, as it means that the orders don't show up on their credit ratings so other people learn the hard way too....

We pay taxes which go to support people on OW and ODSP. Our taxes also support, presumably, the agencies which go out of their way to protect the poor helpless tenants against the big bad landlords - the Legalized Theft Board, the Sheriff's Office, the police, local by-law officials and so on ....

Guess what?

People don't get to be in the position of having money and credit to buy properties to rent by being stupid.

Chance of recovery vs no possibility of recovery - who would YOU rent to?

If the Commission for the Review of Social Assistance actually wanted to make recommendations to address the difficulties of finding housing for marginalized people they should talk to the landlords. Stop by the http://ontariolandlords.org/forum/  why don't you?

The problems CAN be fixed ... but not by giving low income people more money, sorry. Won't work.

There are some relatively simple measures which would drastically improve the situation ... but it seems that no one wants to hear them; most can't even be bothered to respond to emails.

I don't claim to have all the answers ...but I DO have suggestions:

• As soon as a landlord reports an issue with a tenant's rent to their OW/ODSP worker, their shelter allowance should be STOPPED pending resolution. Hold it in trust until the issue is resolved by the LTB, then distribute it as per the order
• individuals who have demonstrated their inability to manage their housing independently should be on direct pay (rent paid directly to landlords) AND required to provide 60 days notice to landlord and worker before shelter allowances can be redirected
• If you really feel the need to throw money at the problem, I would suggest that it would be better used to create a fund which could guarantee tenancies. For example, if my tenant has messed up and needs assistance to save their housing, the fund would pay the shortfall - and - so as to reduce abuse - require that they pay it back through a small monthly deduction. Expecting landlords to eat it every time a tenant doesn't pay their rent is not reasonable.
• The LTB needs an attitude adjustment. Their role is to implement the RTA - NOT to assist tenants to screw landlords and to provide worthless orders. There should be timelines for hearings - it is not reasonable to allow lengthy delays. And they should treat all parties with respect. Yes, even landlords.
• The Sheriff's Office is a joke. When evictions are ordered, they need to happen - even if it happens to be winter, or December, or someone's week off or what-the-hell-ever.  If the Sheriff's Office can't handle that, then end their monopoly; allow us to pay someone else to execute the order. And again - some training re: treating people with respect wouldn't hurt. I'd be happy to contribute to it through my taxes.