Lessons from the Parkdale rent strike

After a long 3 1⁄ months, the Park

2 dale rent strike has come to an end. Organizers declared victory, citing concessions from landlord MetCap Living Management Inc. including: reductions in planned above-guideline rent increases, relief for tenants facing financial hardship as well as a program of maintenance and repair work. (The company has maintained throughout the strike that they tried to address tenant concerns and set up a special hotline for repairs.)

Cole Webber, who helped organize the strike, talked about what other tenants can learn from their success: Organize Tenants said units badly needed repairs and that unfair rent hikes were designed to force them out. Instead of fighting alone, they banded together.

“The rent strike was successful because tenants organized in their buildings and then linked up across the neighbourhood in order to put that pressure on the landlord,” Webber said. Communicate Tenants formed committees in their buildings that brought neighbours together.

“They would hold meetings in lobbies of their buildings, they would do door-to-door outreach, they would have conversations one-on-one with their neighbours, and then as they got organized they expanded that to mass texts, email lists, phone trees.” Be bold “When tenants organize there’s strength in numbers, and so the rent strikers were able to take actions which were rather bold because they had that organization,” he said. At its peak, Webber said the strike comprised 300 people in 12 buildings. With files from Emily Mathieu and Jim Rankin