Nurse’s eviction spurs offers for housing

Individuals, companies reach out to provide rooms for health workers

Star readers are offering accommodation — and even cash — to help a registered nurse who was evicted last week from the room she was renting in a Toronto home.

Kent Fletcher, owner and operator of a west end dance studio, emailed early Monday morning shortly after reading about the nurse’s plight in the Star.

He says he has space he can easily convert into an apartment for the 29-year-old nurse who became suddenly homeless at midnight March 30 after working almost 15 hours at a local hospital.

And if she can’t use it, Fletcher says he’s happy to offer his shuttered studio to any other health-care worker who needs a safe place to stay during the COVID-19 crisis.

“It’s important that we support our health-care workers. They are keeping us alive,” he said.

A provincial order March 18 suspending evictions during the pandemic doesn’t protect people who rent a room in a house or apartment where they share a bathroom and kitchen with the owner or leaseholder.

The nurse, who wrote Premier Doug Ford, Health Minister Christine Elliott and Mayor John Tory about her ordeal, says she wants the eviction ban extended to protect all renters like her during the health emergency.

The Star is not naming the nurse to protect her privacy so she can continue to focus on caring for her seriously ill nonCOVID-19 patients. Tory and NDP MPP Peter Tabuns are calling on Ford to bring in temporary legislation or other legal measures to protect renters not covered by the provincial eviction ban.

Ford has urged tenants and landlords to “work together … during this challenging time,” but has yet to offer a legal solution.

In the meantime, numerous other readers have offered the nurse rooms in their homes and entire apartments or condos that they are not using during the pandemic.

A retired lawyer emailed to say he would be willing to pay the nurse $1,000 a month for the next three months to help her afford a new place in the city’s expensive housing market.

“I just want to do my part,” said the lawyer, who wishes to remain anonymous “because I do not want her to feel beholden to me in any way.”

The nurse, who had been in school until January and is paying off student loans, had been paying $550 a month for her room before she was evicted after a series of disputes with her landlady over health and safety issues in the house. She has been struggling to pay $600 a week to live in a furnished suite since March 31 and said she is “overwhelmed” by the generosity of Star readers.

“I am really, really happy that people care. I feel so relieved,” she said. “This is so overwhelming. I want thank everyone.”

Nathan Rotman, a public policy spokesperson with Airbnb, said the short-term online rental platform is offering free or reduced-rate accommodation to doctors, nurses and other front-line health-care workers during the pandemic.

The program, which started in Italy and spread to France last month, is now available worldwide, he said in an interview.

“We’d love to help this nurse, if possible,” he said.

“Our hosts have opened their homes for free or a discounted rate and Airbnb is forgoing all normal fees and charges,” he said.

“We’ve had a lot of hosts who have signed up to offer free space for people just like her.”

Toronto realtor Sohail Mansoor also saw an opportunity to contribute to the cause of frightened and overworked health-care workers and recently offered his one-bedroom basement suite with a separate entrance on Facebook on a paywhat-you-can basis.

That post led him to become aware of a similar initiative in Victoria, where a nurse and a team of volunteers set up a website to help workers connect with property owners willing to help. Within 24 hours, Mansoor, along with other local realtors and volunteers, had joined the website to offer accommodation in Toronto. So far, Health Worker Housing has links for Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria. Other cities, including Kingston, Ottawa and St. John’s should be accessible from the same central link this week, Mansoor said.

As of Monday,10 Toronto-area property owners had signed up, while 30 health-care workers are seeking a spot, he said.

“Clearly there’s a need for this across the board,” Mansoor said, adding units near the region’s hospitals would be ideal.

“Even if we only end up helping one or two health-care workers, it’s still a success in my books — of course, we’re hoping we can help as many folks as possible,” he said.

A small Toronto-based hotel chain is also trying to spread the word that it wants to help health workers who need safe spaces. The Silver Group has set aside three of its 16 hotels for the exclusive use of front-line health-care workers, who can stay for $60 a night, the lowest price the company can offer and still maintain staff to care for the guests, said vice-president Shivani Ruparell.

There are 285 rooms at the Bond Place Hotel near YongeDundas Square and another 224 at the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport. The Silver Group is also offering 98 rooms at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Kanata in the Ottawa area.

The hotels will place workers on floors based on their shifts so they aren’t waking one another up. Some floors are being dedicated for self-quarantine and there is a separate floor for workers who may be isolating because they have symptoms or have tested positive.

All the hotels have grab-andgo food service.

Health-care workers and first responders are already checking in to try and distance from their families, said vice-president of operations Melissa French.

Airbnb is offering free or reduced-rate accommodation to front-line health-care workers during the pandemic