Dear Friends,
Tenants in Toronto desperately need your help. Tenant services could be cut in the 2012 budget
In the 2011 City budget, $100,000 was cut from the Tenant Defense Fund, a fund that provides services and programs supporting Toronto's tenants as well as a fund that tenants can access in order to challenge above guideline rent increases, demolitions, and conversions.
City councillors have warned of drastic cuts to services in 2012 while Mayor Rob Ford has stated that FMTA services are 'no longer needed'.
The City plays an important role in supporting tenants in Toronto through the Tenant Defense Fund. Through this fund, tenants receive support and access to vital information through:
- A Tenant Hotline, which provides information beyond just the scope of the RTA unlike the LTB Hotline, including but not limited to City by-laws, the Human Rights Code, the Cooperatives Act, how Property Standards works, info on the Sheriffs office, etc. and supports tenants outside of the litigation process, giving tenants options outside of the Landlord Tenant Board,
- An Outreach team, which assists tenants through the complicated above guideline rent increase process,
- A Tenant Education Project, which provides tenant workshops mainly to youth, women, and homeless shelters as well as ESL/LINC classes and Newcomer programs in neighbourhoods across the City,
- Online resources, with extensive materials provided through a website and other electronic information.
With the support of the Tenant Defense Fund, the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations is able to provide all of these important services and programs to over 60,000 Toronto tenants annually.
Please support tenants in Toronto by contacting Mayor Ford and your local City Councillor and let them know that tenants in Toronto cannot afford to lose these services (contacts found at: app.toronto.ca/im/council/councillors.jsp).
Only through support like yours are we able to ensure that tenants are not left behind in Toronto. Please let us know how we can work together to support tenants across the City.
Thank you in advance for your support and I look forward to hearing from you,
Federation of Metro Tenants Associations