Last month the provincial government introduced Bill 60, a broad bill affecting several laws, including the Residential Tenancies Act which impacts many people who rent their homes. While renters across Ontario have many reasons to be concerned about the potential passing of Bill 60, we want to emphasize the impact that this would have on 2SLGBTQ+ youth.
Bill 60 proposes changes to the Residential Tenancies Act and Landlord & Tenant Board procedures that would make it easier for landlords to evict tenants and harder for tenants to fight eviction proceedings. The language of the bill puts the blame for the housing crisis on renters, and though it claims that it will increase rental housing stock, this would only be the result of people being evicted–some into homelessness.
2SLGBTQ+ youth already face a disproportionate number of barriers and challenges to safe housing because of discrimination. Egale’s report on housing and homelessness found that across Canada, 2SLGBTQ+ people are more likely than non- 2SLGBTQ+ people to rent their homes rather than own, and they are more likely to experience homelessness–especially youth. (Click here to read the full report.)
These are our peers, community members, and family. This is us. We need to fight back, and we need all our allies to step up.
Call your MPP and tell them to vote NO on Bill 60. Join or start a tenant association in your building or neighbourhood.
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Click here for to read more details on Bill 60’s impact on renters.
Click here to read the Bill itself.
Click here to find your MPP’s contact info.
What is a tenant association? Read these toolkits from Advocacy Center for Tenants Ontario and from the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations.
