Scarborough tenants worry they could be out in the cold with no new rental deal

The city is trying to reassure a worried group of tenants in a Scarborough low-rise they they will not be homeless when a developer demolishes their building in a year or so.

But without any written deal laying out where they'll be able to move to, or how much rent they'll be asked to pay, those reassurances seem to be falling on deaf ears.

"It's very scary," Monika Little, a pensioner in her 70s who's lived in her one-bedroom apartment for 23 years, told CBC Toronto earlier this week.

"I have a hard time sleeping."

In 2020, Altree Developments bought Lenmore Court, a three-building low-rise complex between 1625 and 1641 Kingston Rd., in Scarborough's Birchcliff neighbourhood. Altree's rezoning application eventually went to the Ontario Land Tribunal, which approved most of the developer's plans for the site, according to tenant advocate Anna Dewar Gully.

The plan is now back in the hands of city staff. And last week, Scarborough community council approved Altree's application for a demolition permit. That needs final approval from city council, which meets next week, but residents say with a wrecking ball imminent, they want some assurances from the city that they won't be left out in the cold.

Both Altree and Coun. Gary Crawford, who represents Ward 20, Scarborough Southwest on Toronto city council, have pledged that the tenants will be looked after.

But Gully says what's most worrisome to the tenants is that they've been given nothing specific in writing that explains how they'll be protected.

"We're still trying to figure out what exactly is the deal that they're being offered," Gully said.

"And the processes that we've gone through both with the City of Toronto initially and then with the Ontario Land Tribunal have left us kind of scratching our heads trying to understand how exactly they're protected and by what documents and by whom."

Crawford says he and city staff will be sitting down with each of the tenants individually in the months to come to find out exactly what their needs are. He says it will be at least a year before the building is actually demolished — plenty of time to make sure the residents are housed.

Once the new development is completed, the tenants will be given new units, according to an email to CBC Toronto from Altree.

"Each of these new rental units which eligible tenants can return to will be equipped with temperature-controlled heating and air conditioning, in-suite laundry, full set of appliances, as well as access to indoor and outdoor amenity," the Altree email reads.

"The features and finishes that these rental replacement units are going to be equipped with" will be an upgrade over the units the tenants are now living in, the company says.

In the interim period between eviction day and the date they move into the new units, Crawford says the city is determined to ensure the tenants find adequate temporary housing.

"There's going to be a relocation and assistance plan to the eligible tenants and there's going to be a rent gap payment," he said.

"What we're looking at doing is ensuring that these residents have every right to come back into a new building to have the same size apartment at the same cost."

But Gully says the tenants believe those individual agreements should be offered in writing before the city issues Altree a demolition permit.

Debbie Birch agrees. She lives in the complex in a one-bedroom apartment with her husband who is battling cancer. Both of them are on public pensions, and pay about $1,000 a month — far less than than what they'd have to pay if and when they move.

"We just don't know what to do," she said. "We're going to end up in a shelter because we have no place to go."

Tracy Christoforou lives in a two-bedroom unit with her two children. She wonders what help the city or the developer will offer when demolition day approaches.

"It's all hearsay," she said.

"I mean, our whole future is a fog. Nothing is concrete to us. We have no idea where we're going to reside during the development of this condo."

Karen Azucar owns a local salon, and she's reluctant to have to move out of the neighbourhood. 

"Along with all the other tenants we have absolutely no idea where we're going to be housed," she said. "We're at our wits end ... We have nothing in writing."

She wants the city to advocate for the tenants.

"The process always seems to favour the developers. We're not represented with a proper voice."

Beyond the uncertain future, some tenants say they're mystified about why they have to move in the first place.

"Why are they getting rid of all these small buildings where people are quite happy?" Birch asked.

"Why are they tearing everything down and building these condos? And most of them seem to be empty.

"Why? I don't understand it."