The OESP is an Ontario Energy Board (OEB) program that lowers electricity bills for low-income households. The OESP provides a monthly credit to eligible customers based on combined household income and household size. The OESP credits are applied directly to eligible customers’ bills.

 If you have questions about the program, you can contact the OESP Contact Centre in the following ways:

•Call 1-855-831-8151 (toll free within Ontario)

‚Ä¢Email [email protected]

‚Ä¢Use the Bell Relay service at 1-800-855-1155 (TTY to TTY) 

The OESP Contact Centre is open Monday to Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET. 

Or visit the OESP Frequently Asked Question page at:

https://ontarioelectricitysupport.ca/FAQ

These recent publications from the Centre for Equality Rights in Accomodation explain a landlord’s obligations to their tenants under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (2005). It can also assist tenants with disabilities, their family, friends and support persons to understand the rights that tenants have under the AODA better.

To download a copy of the guide and accompanying toolkit, visit:

http://www.equalityrights.org/cera/?p=2067

This opinion piece in Now Magazine convincingly argues that already cash strapped tenants should not be further penalized by the Landlord and Tenant Board. The Board, which routinely passes on the costs of an eviction hearing (roughly $170) to an evicted tenant is perpetuating an unjust set of laws and practices which punishes low-income Ontarians simply for being poor.

As rents continue to inflate and job security and incomes plummet, the number of working poor and low-income Ontarians continues to grow. The landlords who file the majority of eviction applications at the Board are largely corporate landlords who annually make massive profits.

The article argues that the law should be changed to reflect this desperate reality for tenants.

To read the full article, visit Now Magazine at:

https://nowtoronto.com/news/reasonable-doubt-ontario-landlord-and-tenant-board/

Position: Peer Educator, 1 available position

The Dream Team ‚Äìa group of psychiatric consumer survivors who advocate for more supportive housing ‚Äìis developing a Tenant’s Rights workshop surrounding the Residential Tenancy Act. The workshop will be delivered in a peer to peer format and as a result, we are seeking a Peer Educator to co-facilitate workshops to tenants across the GTA.

Task Force Member Criteria

• Passionate about social housing tenant safety and rights enforcement
• Flexible schedule: ability to prioritize peer education meetings over other responsibilities for duration of project
• Prior experience in workshop facilitation; note-taking considered an asset
• Public speaking skills; ability to engage members of the public and social housing tenants
• Ability to digest large volumes of information: Residential Tenancy Act and other documents
• Proven track record with another grass roots organization
• The following lived experience(s) are considered a strong asset:
  • Mental health and/or addiction issues
  • Tenant of social or supportive housing
  • Living on low-income/ receiving public assistance          

Application criteria:

Please submit a 1 page application which includes answers to the following questions:

1. How extensive is your current knowledge of social housing tenant rights?
2. Describe any experience you have with tenant/landlord issues, court process or mediation?
3. Why would you like to work on this project?

Application Details:

Please send your resume and application to Courtney via e-mail at [email protected]  by Friday January 22^nd, 2016. **Please note: you must be available to interview on Friday February 5^th, 2016.

Compensation Details:

Honoraria for training and workshop delivery

For more information, please call:

Courtney Roberts-Lawes

416-516-1422 ext. 263 

If you already filed a complaint against your energy or natural gas provider, Option consommateurs wants to hear from you! 

Option consommateurs wants to get in touch with people that in the last year: 

• filed a complaint regarding an issue with their energy provider (electricity or natural gas);
  
  or
• Initiated a dispute settlement process with a regulatory body in the energy sector.

Option consommateurs wishes to talk with theses consumers about their experiences with the complaint mechanism they have used. 

Participants must be available for a telephone interview of approximately 30 minutes and accept a follow up, within six months. 

For their participation, they will receive $50.00. 

The information collected will only be used as part of a research which is financed by Industry Canada's Office of consumer affairs. The identity of the participants will not be disclosed. 

For more information, please contact Karine Robillard.
Phone: 514 598-7288, extension 246
Email: [email protected] 

http://www.option-consommateurs.org/en/need/appel_tous/105/

Dear friends,

It saddens us to inform you that the FMTA has recently been evicted from our space at 27 Carlton St.

The landlord asked for a 30% increase and when we asked for at least 30 days notice to prepare for the increase...they gave us notice to move instead.

We're happy to report that we've found a new space and will be moving in this week.  However from Oct 28th - Oct 30th, our services will be disrupted as we reconnect our phone lines, internet, etc.  We have a very complex technical system, so we'll try to have everything up on the 28th, however you may not be able to access our services in full until Nov 1st.

In the meantime, please feel free to take advantage of our website FAQ, our resources and some of our news items of the latest on your rights.

Together We Are Strong!

FMTA

Join the FMTA for our 5^th annual International Tenants’ Day event ‚Äì a forum on repairs in housing presented with the Neighbourhood Change Research Partnership.

Find out about the latest data on repairs and maintenance standards and rent levels in the City using cutting edge research data.  Also find out about new tools being recommended by the City of Toronto’s Municipal Licensing and Standards Division.

The forum will include presentations from the University of Toronto, Toronto ACORN, ACTO and the FMTA.

Renting in Toronto: Are you Getting What you Pay For?.

Date: Thurday October 22^nd, 2015

Time: 6:30pm

The forum will be held at Innis Town Hall – 2 Sussex Av (1 block south of St. George Subway)

What is International Tenants Day?

International Tenants Day is an annual event coordinated by the Swedish-based 

InternationalUnionof Tenants.  It aims to promote tenant rights around the world while creating awareness of tenant issues. International Tenants Day takes place on October 6th this year.

 The forum is being organized by several agencies including the FMTA, Toronto Acorn & University of Toronto.  The event is wheelchair accessible and will provide captioning for those who are deaf or deafened.

Voters in Canada’s 4 million renter households have a new tool they can use to grill candidates on affordable housing in October’s federal election. It consists of an interactive online map developed by a partnership of non-profit housing organizations and credit unions which tracks renter income, affordability and overcrowding for the first time in more than 800 cities and regions across the country and in all 338 federal ridings.

http://rentalhousingindex.ca/

The Canadian Rental Housing Index is calling attention to the plight of tenants in Canada. According to the website:

• 40 per cent of renter households are paying more than 30 per cent of their before-tax income on rent and utilities, an amount widely considered to be unaffordable.

• An alarming one in five households is paying more than half of their income on rent, a situation that puts them at risk of homelessness, say affordable housing advocates.

• More than 10 per cent of rental households are living in overcrowded conditions such as sharing a house or apartment with other families or renting a smaller unit than needed.

Homelessness has grown to be a large problem in Canada, right about the time that the federal government’s investment in affordable housing declined. Over the last 25 years investments have declined by over 46%, from $115 to $60 annually per Canadian. Today, over 235,000 Canadians experience homelessness in a year and nearly 1 in 5 households are facing extreme housing affordability issues. In a country as prosperous as Canada, with a broadly shared and strong commitment to social justice, there is no need to accept or tolerate the experiences of poverty, hardship and homelessness. If federal investment in affordable housing increases to just $106 annually per Canadian, an increase of only 88 cents per person weekly, we can see an end to chronic homelessness and help others who are on the brink of becoming homeless.

The State of Homelessness in Canada report (2014) makes a number of recommendations!  

Make and informed decision in the upcoming Federal election in October 2015, see party platforms & analysis

Formed in June 2015, the West Liberty Live-work Tenant Association has already started working on a range of issues. They are calling on their landlord to improve the standard of living for all tenants: challenging illegal rent increases, ensuring repairs are made in a timely and effective manner and protecting and defending member’s rights.

The residents are also involved in a development application and many are facing unlawful evictions. The Tenant Association website has more information about the context for the eviction, what the tenants have done to organize against it and links to media coverage.

Visit the West Liberty Livework Tenant Association at:

http://www.westlibertylivework.org/home.html