Rentsmart: Stable Homes
Why now?
Renters deserve stability, not stress—and right now, stability is slipping away. In Ward 1, the rental vacancy rate is just 1.2%. That’s not a number; it’s a warning. Because this ward consistently has some of the lowest vacancy in Toronto—driven by older, deeply occupied purpose-built rentals where tenants hold on for dear life to below-market rents.
The result? Almost zero turnover. Almost zero choice. Almost zero room for anyone new to call this community home.
So here's what 1.2% actually looks like: People who earn too much for subsidies, but too little for today's rents are being erased from the housing equation.
Families doubling up. Young professionals commuting longer because jobs are farther. Seniors who want to downsize realizing they can't afford what's left. This isn't a market correction—it's a missing-middle crisis driven by a failure of political will.
That’s why now—before more young adults leave, before more evictions go unchecked, before 1.2% becomes 0%—I will expand tenant supports to stop illegal evictions, enforce property management and leasing standards, and create pathways to home ownership to make sure every renter can claim their right to shelter.
Not eventually. Not someday. Now.
How Does This Impact Me?
-
Gives you leverage against bad landlords and illegal evictions, so you can focus on school or your first job without the fear of being unfairly pushed out of your unit.
-
A dedicated Navigator and stronger licensing will cut through red tape, helping you quickly resolve maintenance issues and illegal rent hikes so your budget stays predictable.
-
Empowers you to demand accountability from landlords through a Tenant-Led Registry, ensuring your family’s home is safe, properly maintained, and free from hidden safety violations.
-
The Tenant Care Navigator will provide one-on-one support to help you access repair programs and fight age-based discrimination, allowing you to age in place with dignity and security.
First 100 Days
Day 15: Launch a "Toronto Tenants' Union" introduction series to meet with tenants associations and establish RentSafeTO goals for 2027.
Day 30: Work with the Toronto Tenant Support Program (TTSP) to host information sessions on the Rental Registry pilot project.
Day 60: Hire a dedicated Tenant Care Navigator for Ward 1.
Day 90: Initiate Tenant-Led Rental Registry and Landlord Licensing pilot project in Ward 1
Road MAP
(1-4 Year Projects)
-
ReHousing.ca is a web platform led by the University of Toronto to empower "Citizen Developers”: homeowners, buyer groups, multi-generational families, and non-profits, to convert single-family homes into multiplexes using pro-grade tools (plans, feasibility calculators, construction catalogs).
This initiative reframes housing growth as a collective neighbourhood project, welcoming "Missing Middle" neighbours—young families and essential workers—who are being squeezed out of Toronto simply because this type of housing does not exist.
For older homes, this initiative aims to scale deep-energy retrofit project (modelled on 444 Logan) to reduce carbon and add renewable energy systems to aging buildings to preserve affordability and allowing more residents to remain in their homes throughout construction.
Major Activities:Community-Led Transit Hub: Formalize a Rexdale LRT Working Group with residents, businesses, councillors, city planners, and Metrolinx to shape development before applications proceed.
Family-Friendly Mid-Rise Corridors: Identify 5 corridors (Finch, Albion, Rexdale Blvd) for 3-bedroom, soundproofed family-density units via Community Planning Permit System, bypassing rezonings.
Missing Middle Zones & Climate-Friendly Homes Pilot: Allow triplexes/fourplexes by-right in low-density zones and launch a deep-energy retrofit initiativeto decarbonize existing housing stock.
-
This project fuses Toronto’s official rental registries (RentSafeTO, Short-Term Rentals, Multi-Tenant Houses) with crowdsourced tenant data from Rental Registry ON to produce a holistic “State of Rentals” report.
By integrating city safety scores into listing sites, linking complaint archives to trigger automated audits, and transitioning to shared landlord-tenant reporting, the initiative delivers transparent, evidence-based intelligence for policymakers, researchers, and tenants—exposing rent hikes, renovictions, and chronic neglect while empowering informed housing choices.
Major Activities
Data Integration & API Development – Connect RentSafeTO scores, 311 archives, and listing websites with tenant-contributed fields for real-time display and cross-referencing.
Automated Alert & Audit Triggers – Program rules to flag chronic 311 complaints, auto-generate proactive inspection requests, and notify enforcement units.
Public Dashboard & Report Launch – Design an accessible, interactive dashboard, validate data quality, and roll out the “State of Rentals” report with stakeholder training and feedback loops.
-
This project adapts Brampton’s Residential Rental Licensing (RRL) pilot—which achieved 13,900+ applications, 900 units compliant, and ~$700K in fines—to create a unified Toronto landlord licensing system covering all short- and long-term rentals.
The recent sentencing of landlord Carolyn Krebs for fire safety violations at 608 Dawes Road and the ongoing crisis at 500 Dawes Road—where tenants faced crumbling ceilings, pests, and years of neglect—underscore the urgent need for this proactive, city-wide licensing framework to prevent such failures and ensure all rental housing meets basic safety standards.
Integrated with a tenant-led rental registry (crowdsourced rent, lease terms, eviction notices, and corporate documents), the system enables fair-market comparisons and empowers tenants with transparent data. By streamlining enforcement with By-Law Officers and Fire Services, the system enforces safety codes, reduces fraud, fast-tracks responsible landlords, and provides eviction prevention or transition support, delivering transparent data to track housing crises and market trends.
Major Activities
System Design & Policy Alignment: Tailor Brampton’s licensing framework to Toronto’s bylaws, define license tiers, fee structures, and fast-track criteria for compliant landlords. This design will proactively address the systemic failures seen at properties like 500 Dawes Rd., where over 40 property standard violations accumulated despite decades of inspections.
Tenant Registry Integration & Owner Verification: Build a secure crowdsourced data portal, cross-reference tenant-submitted documents with corporate records to map beneficial ownership. This will help identify owners like Carolyn Krebs who have a documented history of non-compliance across multiple properties, enabling targeted enforcement.
Enforcement & Support Workflow: Train By-Law Officers and Toronto Fire Services personnel on new protocols, establish automated inspection triggers for high-risk buildings, and create clear, swift pathways for escalating violations. This includes mediation channels and eviction-prevention referral pathways to ensure that, in cases of severe neglect, residents receive immediate support and relocation assistance, while landlords face consequences including fines and custody as seen in the Dawes Road case.
-
This initiative enforces property standards to reduce municipal liabilities by shifting maintenance risks to owners.
Inspired by Ombudsman Toronto, a City Staff Report, and tenant advocacy, it applies a Remedial Action Framework: if landlords ignore Orders to Comply, the City contracts repairs and adds costs to property tax bills.
Key enhancements include mandatory in-unit inspections, escalated fines for repeat violators, automated engagement fees for persistent “Red” status buildings, aggressive court prosecutions for critical violations, expansion to mixed-tenure buildings, and added bylaw officers to cut response times for over 11,000 annual complaints.
Major Activities
Strengthen Enforcement Tools – Implement higher fines, automated administrative fees ($3,136.64), and rapid provincial court prosecutions for severe violations (e.g., no heat, pests).
Expand Inspection Coverage – Integrate in-unit checks into 3-year building evaluations and create frameworks for rental units in condos/redeveloped properties.
Increase Capacity & Response – Hire specialized Bylaw Enforcement Officers to reduce median response times and manage complaint volume, while operationalizing third-party repair cost-recovery via tax billing.
-
This initiative fuses RentSafeTO's building-enforcement authority with the Toronto Tenant Support Program's (TTSP) community-rooted legal and organizing expertise to create a reciprocal, coordinated workflow.
RentSafeTO inspectors flag at-risk buildings and refer tenants directly to TTSP housing workers, legal aid, and social workers—while TTSP frontline feedback informs RentSafeTO's targeting and priority inspections.
This integrated service-delivery model prevents evictions, resolves maintenance disputes, and stabilizes tenancies before crises escalate.
Concurrently, the project pilots rent reductions tied to property-tax cuts, advances rent-to-own pathways for 200+ families, and zones family-sized mid-rise units along transit corridors—all aimed at systemic tenure security and measurable tenant wellbeing.
Major Activities:
Activate Tenant-Led Early-Warning Hubs: Train 100 renters/year as rights experts who document code violations and eviction threats, feeding anonymized intelligence to both RentSafeTO (for inspection scheduling) and TTSP (for rapid legal triage).
Deploy Tenant Care Navigators via Campus of Care: Embed TTSP-aligned Tenant Care Navigators within RentSafeTO inspection workflows to conduct joint building walkthroughs, co-identify non-compliant landlords, and immediately connect affected tenants to legal aid, social work, and organizing support—closing the loop between enforcement and prevention.
Implement Data-Sharing & Mutual Feedback Pilots: Establish formal referral protocols and shared case-tracking systems between RentSafeTO and TTSP partners, enabling inspectors to prioritize buildings with high tenant distress signals and TTSP to relay emerging landlord patterns, ensuring both agencies adapt dynamically to real-time neighbourhood conditions.
Implement Rent Stabilization Pilots: Test mandatory rent reductions in 3 neighbourhoods tied to city property-tax cuts exceeding 2.49% on residential buildings, with rigorous data tracking and tenant notification protocols.
