MPP hopes to introduce legislation to stop ‘renovictions’ in memory of St. Catharines senior

Ken Gogo might have won his fight to stay in his St. Catharines apartment for the last few months of his life, but others in the community are continuing to face the same threat of eviction while the buildings they call home are being renovated, says St. Catharines MPP Jennie Stevens.

Stevens hopes to introduce a private member’s bill in Gogo’s honour this year, with the aim of ensuring others struggling with life-threatening illness will not have to worry about losing their housing.

Gogo died May 27 at the age of 71 — six months after being diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.

But despite his deteriorating health, Stevens said, Gogo’s landlord began eviction proceedings against him while planning to renovate the apartment he called home for the previous 13 years.

Although an eviction hearing was scheduled for April, the property owners eventually relented.

Gogo’s landlord stopped eviction proceedings against him after he joined Stevens at Queen’s Park as she shared his story, which was also published in the St. Catharines Standard in February.

“It was so rewarding that he got to come to Queen’s Park and sit in the gallery,” Stevens said, adding Gogo told her it was something he’d wanted to do since he was a child.

Stevens called Gogo’s struggle “symbolic of the housing crisis” in St. Catharines and Niagara. She intends to continue fighting for legislation that would prevent large rental companies from “renovicting people.”

“It’s for seniors like Ken who was suffering from terminal illness,” she said. “I think we have to close the gap on housing issues like Ken’s.”

Stevens said she plans to introduce a bill that would add a compassionate clause to landlord and tenant legislation, protecting seniors struggling with terminal health problems who are being threatened with eviction due to renovations.

“I’d like to see a compassionate clause put into legislation this year, and maybe even name it after Kenneth Gogo, because of what happened to him in his last few months that he was alive here,” she said. “We can’t be letting these big companies come in from Toronto to strong-arm our seniors out of their homes.”

Stevens said bringing that legislation forward will be a top priority for the coming year, in addition to addressing longstanding concerns in the region that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID has really highlighted so many things that we have to close the gap on,” she said, adding she will continue to advocate on behalf of constituents who have struggled during the pandemic — such as struggles seniors in long-term care homes have faced.

“I plan to bring forward several private member’s bills,” Stevens said.

BOB TYMCZYSZYN TORSTAR FILE PHOTO Kenneth Gogo is pictured in his Church Street apartment. The St. Catharines senior who died last May was facing eviction from his apartment, despite suffering from terminal lung cancer.