Toronto’s ombudsman says tenants were left without heat, water and power for six months after a rooming house fire, partly because of city staff inaction.
Ombudsman Kwame Addo says bylaw officers and city management made a number of decisions that advantaged the landlord at the expense of the 11 tenants living in the rooming house after the fire in September 2023.
His report says 10 of 11 tenants could not endure the conditions through the winter and left for more expensive and less stable housing.
“The experience had affected their physical and mental health and resulted in a loss of dignity,” the report stated.
“Some of them moved into homes with higher rents and less security. One of the tenants remained in the building through the winter, without heat or running water. The vital services outage lasted for six months.”
Toronto bylaws require landlords to provide tenants with essential services like gas, electricity, and hot and cold water. The City’s Municipal Licensing & Standards Division (MLS) had the authority to compel the landlord to restore those services, but according to Addo, they chose not to enforce the bylaw.
Bylaw officer took weeks to inspect home, failed to recognize landlord’s legal duty to provide heat
An investigation was launched in June 2024, Addo said.
“During our investigation, we learned that the Housing Secretariat, through its Eviction Prevention in the Community program (EPIC), also declined to help the tenants after being contacted by the tenants’ union and MLS staff.”
Addo said the investigation concluded with several findings, such as the MLS acted arbitrarily and did not enforce its own bylaws, staff were not properly trained on bylaws and procedures, EPIC lacked clear policies and procedures, and city staff’s actions were inconsistent with Toronto Housing Charter commitments.
Ombudsman Toronto made a total of 27 recommendations. Among them, the report stated that MLS should review how it enforces the standards for rental housing and develop a process for responding to the loss of heat, power and water and that MLS should improve the training and supervision of bylaw officers.
“The City has accepted all 27 of the recommendations made by the Ombudsman in his report,” Addo said. “We will be following up to ensure its recommendations are implemented.”
