A rent hike dispute involving four buildings in east Hamilton is about to escalate.
A tenants’ group said it’s planning a rent strike at Stoney Creek Towers next week because the property manager is proposing a rent hike that would mean an increase of nearly 10 per cent over two years.
The province is allowing landlords to charge an additional 1.8 per cent this year, but companies can apply to boost rents beyond those guidelines under different circumstances, including if significant renovations and repairs have been made to a property.
The group behind the rent strike is demanding the property management company make necessary repairs to the units and drop the application for the above-guideline rent increase, which they say is more than some can afford.
“Tenants have long dealt with poor conditions in their building … poor windows, a heating system that doesn’t work, dysfunctional elevators, the list goes on,” Campbell Young of the Hamilton Tenants Solidarity Network told the Scott Thompson Show on Thursday.
LISTEN: Campbell Young joins the Scott Thompson Show (starting at 36:45)
The buildings, located just east of Centennial Parkway and south of Barton Street East, are manged by CLV Group and owned by a real estate investment trust called InterRent.
CLV Group did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Young said he believes a “renoviction” is going on, in which tenants are forced out so the landlord can make renovations to attract higher paying renters.
“Basically, they try to squeeze the old tenants out because every empty unit is money to them,” he said.
An attempt at mediation, held April 20 at the Landlord and Tenant Board in Hamilton, failed to find some common ground and now, some tenants are planning a rent strike starting May 1.
Young said he expects 20 to 30 per cent of the tenants will be participating that month.
Arun Pathak, president of the Hamilton and District Apartment Association, said a key factor in this dispute is an aging apartment inventory in Hamilton — and the high costs associated with completing the necessary renovations.
“We’re in the middle of a rental housing crisis that’s been developing for over 30 years,” Pathak said. “Now, these buildings are known to need a lot of improvements. They’ve got a bit of a reputation, they’ve been run down over the years, as has a lot of the Hamilton housing stock.”
Pathak said if it weren’t for the provision in Ontario allowing landlords to apply for rent increases over the guidelines, the situation would be getting even worse.
LISTEN: Arun Pathak of the Hamilton and District Apartment Association joins The Bill Kelly Show
He called the rent strike illegal and sensational, and said there are processes already in place to deal with these kinds of issues.
He said he understands the tenants’ concerns, but said they need additional income support.
“The tenants’ incomes haven’t gone up,” he said. “They haven’t kept up with the cost of living, same as for homeowners. Next month, we’re going to see mortgage renewals go up — are we going to see a mortgage strike?”
According to Pathak, the shortage of supply in the rental industry is an underlying problem.
“If there were more units out there for rent, by market forces, that would improve the conditions of all tenants across this city, right across this province,” he said.
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