Student evicted from home amid crisis
Leaseholder of apartment had police escort her out after failure to replace rent cheque
Caroline John found herself suddenly homeless — in a pandemic.
And tenant activists, who scrambled unsuccessfully to help her, say her story exposes a gaping hole in Ontario’s order to halt evictions during the COVID-19 crisis that must be filled.
John had just returned from her COVID-19 test on March 3 when she says her roommate began badgering her to write a replacement for her last-month’s rent cheque, which the roommate had lost.
Thirteen days later, John was on the sidewalk after police were called, demanding the Ryerson University student vacate the room she was renting in a High Park walk-up or be charged with trespassing.
“I was in my room in my pyjamas,” said John, 32, of the late afternoon visit by two burly Toronto police officers.
After about 30 minutes, “they literally gave me 20 minutes to grab what I needed and leave when there is a coronavirus pandemic,” she said. “And it’s winter.
“I did not think it would be possible to end up on the street.”
Linda Boden, 40, John’s roommate, holds the lease to the apartment and said she lives on Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) benefits and relies on roommates to help her pay the monthly $2,100 rent, plus utilities.
Boden who suffers from depression and anxiety, acknowledges she misplaced John’s last-month’s rent cheque. But after more than a week of “asking politely” for John to replace it, Boden said she grew worried her roommate was secretly planning to move out at the end of March and leave her short for April’s rent.
“I am on ODSP, and I can’t afford to pay rent if she decides to just leave,” Boden said in an interview. “I understand there is a pandemic, but she made the choice not to do what she needed to stay here.”
Ontario’s attorney general urged sheriff’s offices to halt evictions March16, the day John was evicted. Premier Doug Ford escalated that measure to a provincial order the next day.
But even if the order had been in place the day John lost her housing, tenant advocates say it may not have provided her any legal protection.
That’s because renters like John, who share a bathroom and kitchen with the owner or leaseholder, are not covered by the provincial Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), which governs evictions in Ontario.
“The law is pretty murky around this,” said lawyer Kenneth Hale, director of legal services for the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, a legal-aid clinic that specializes in tenant law. The law seems to recognize the risk homeowners and leaseholders take when sharing their homes with strangers, he said.
But during a global pandemic, the risk of homelessness should trump roommate discord, he said.
“No matter what your status is, you should not be vulnerable to being put out on the street at this time,” Hale said. “That should be coming through loud and clear whoever you are, whatever your status is.
“If you have a roommate (situation) that is not working out very well, it is not really the time to settle that beef right now,” he said. “Police should be aware of this order (halting evictions),” he said. “They should be working to keep people sheltered.”
Housing counsellors with the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations have been on the phone and answering emails “non-stop” this month from frightened tenants in many different rental situations, said executive director Geordie Dent. “It’s pretty chaotic out there. And a lot of people are terrified,” he said.
A federation counsellor spoke to John by phone last week and Dent was in touch by email.
While John and other renters like her may not be covered by the RTA, they are still covered by contract law, which requires a 30-day notice to break the contract, Dent said.
“The problem is rights enforcement. The only way to fight breach of a contract like this is through small claims court, a process that could take six months. And even if you win, all you get is an order (for the leaseholder) to give you back your money.”
Even if Boden had given John 30 days notice, she would still be scrambling to find another place during a pandemic, he added. The city doesn’t keep statistics on the number of people sharing accommodation to make ends meet. But Dent says calls and emails to the federation’s tenant hotline show it is “significant and growing.”
“Who is ensuring people aren’t being thrown into the streets? And why are police helping to evict people in these situations?” he asked. “We’re in a public health crisis. What if they have the virus? Will they be going into the shelter system? To a friend’s couch? You do not want that situation now ... Every time you have someone thrown out or locked out, it’s a risk.”
The Toronto Police Service doesn’t comment on individual cases, but a spokesperson said officers don’t conduct evictions. But they do respond to calls from people who rent rooms in their homes and want these “unwanted guests” to leave, Meghan Gray said.
“Our members are empathetic towards members of the community that are looking for shelter and will provide assistance whenever they can,” she said in a statement.
“All situations are different … but calls for unwanted guests are generally when people are no longer welcome on private property and the owner/person in charge has asked for the unwelcome party to be removed,” she said. “This does not provide the (police) much latitude, but we do try and provide assistance or referrals whenever possible.”
Moments after her eviction, John phoned the Star from the sidewalk, overwhelmed and wondering how she got there. “I know I was being a bit stubborn. I don’t have the best conflict response. I can shut down and lose healthy communication,” she said.
“But I didn’t think it would come to this because I had paid March rent. I told her I would replace the lost cheque in reasonable time, once I was able to get to my bank, cancel the old one,” she said. “I can’t believe someone would do this to another human being.”
That first night, John stayed on a friend’s sofa in a York student residence building and began frantically looking for a new home. The next night, she rented a room in a reasonably priced North York Airbnb where she has been staying ever since.
“It’s pretty scary,” she said. “But I am lucky I have some basic resources to fall back on. If I had been younger, I would not have had that option.”
John moved into Boden’s apartment Feb. 28 after living in a downtown rooming house with other young professionals for about 21⁄ 2 years.
Through experience with roommates and mediation, John even set up some ground rules for disputes — which Boden seemed to welcome — before she moved in.
The environmental studies student, who is completing her master’s thesis, submitted her last-month’s rent cheque Feb.16, just before a school trip to Chicago. She returned with a fever, headache and cough and was advised to get tested for COVID-19 at St. Michael’s Hospital. (The test result was negative.)
Later that day, when she returned home, feeling “tired and a bit anxious,” John said she felt “ambushed” by Boden’s request for the lost cheque and a litany of other complaints.
“Leaseholders are well protected under the Residential Tenancies Act, but where is the protection for the now thousands of renters living under roommate agreements?”