The Outreach & Organizing team provides information, referrals, workshops, and outreach & organizing services for tenants in the City of Toronto. The majority of our work focuses on assisting tenants in disputing Above Guideline Rent Increases (AGI), and we also help tenants fight demolitions or conversions, N12 & N13 evictions, building wide maintenance and loss of services and provide general workshops on tenants' rights, as well as information and referrals for tenants.
Our office phone number is 416-413-9442. You can also email [email protected] and we'll forward your email to the Outreach team.
Outreach
When our office is informed by the City that a building will be facing an AGI, eviction, maintenance issue or loss of service, we flyer the building and hold a meeting a few days later. Meetings are scheduled at a convenient time and place for tenants -- that means evenings, weekends, and any place in the City of Toronto. We most commonly hold our workshops in the lobby or common spaces of buildings.
Organizing
We help organize tenants who want to dispute the AGI (or eviction), save money off their rent, stop illegal evictions and enforce other rights. Whether tenants want to apply to the City of Toronto's legal service, organize to fight back, self-represent, fundraise themselves or do nothing, we're there to let people know what they can do and the possible outcomes/impacts.
Our services include:
- We give general information on Above Guideline Rent Increases
- We can explain how the Demolition/Conversion process works and help tenants give input into planning applications that affect rental housing in the City of Toronto
- We can help tenants fight back against a landlords own use (N12), purchasers own use (N12) or "renoviction" (N13) eviction
- We can help tenants organize against a lack of building-wide maintenance or a landlord trying to remove building wide services (like parking or storage)
- We help make referrals to the City of Toronto's new legal service
- We provide resources and inform tenants about their ability to self-represent at hearings
- We inform Tenants about the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) and what to expect from their hearing at the Board
- We assist tenants in connecting with appropriate resources in Toronto.
General Workshops on Tenant Rights
The Outreach Team also provides general workshops on tenant rights.
Our workshops are comprehensive and accessible. We cover all aspects of the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), as well as in-depth exploration of specific and timely topics in tenancy law.
The Outreach & Organizing Team is funded by the City of Toronto Tenant Support Program