Community meeting raises concerns about illegal rooming house havoc. Scarborough Southwest has the most number of rooming houses in the city, although enforcement is limited.
Illegal rooming houses continue to cause havoc for Scarborough neighbourhoods. That was the key message that came out of a recent community forum held in Scarborough Southwest earlier in March.
“If we don’t speak up now, we won’t be heard.” That was the refrain put forward by Scarborough United Neighbourhoods (SUN), and their spokesperson, Ron Parkinson. SUN is an amalgamation of several residents’ associations and community groups representing Ward 20.
The meeting was moderated by Councillor Parthi Kandavel and provided an opportunity for residents concerned about rooming houses, which are formally described as Multi-Tenant Houses by the City of Toronto.
“It’s always better to be organized when a community is looking for change and reform,” Councillor Kandavel said at the beginning of the two-hour public meeting. “We’ve been ground zero for rooming houses since covid. We have the highest number of illegal or unlicensed rooming houses in the entire city.”
City of Toronto staff members representing the Multi-Tenant Houses team presented a slideshow that described the new by-laws, brought into effect in March 2024, governing how rooming houses are now expected to be licensed and then concerns are addressed via inspections and, if needed, fines and charges.
The community attendees quickly grew frustrated with the presentation, though. A number of attendees were vocal that everyone at the meeting was aware of the new rules and what they wanted to hear from city staff was how infractions were being enforced.
Staff admitted that despite the new by-laws not a single rooming house in Ward 20 had signed up for a licence. “Whether many of these homes will achieve licensed status is something to be seen,” one city manager said.
Parthi Kandavel spoke of concerns from “waste, number of people, cars, parking, noise.”
The estimated dozens of rooming houses in the neighbourhood remain illegal and face little to no enforcement.
“When is this enforcement going to start happening?” one audience member asked.
Councillor Kandavel referenced how the rooming houses create, “clear problems — waste, number of people, cars, parking, noise.”
However, residents in attendance also spoke about the criminal elements and the intimidation of women that happen in and around rooming houses. One woman who had worked for the city in past decades spoke of a tragic story of rooming house residents dying in a fire due to unsafe conditions.
“They’re rampant,” said one speaker. “These landlords are organized. The intent is to make the most money while they wait for the committee of adjustment approvals to make these monster houses.” She was referring to the process of waiting for approval to construct large multiplex houses.
City staff did clarify that they are now issuing tickets “at a rapid rate” against rooming houses. While the tickets are generally for $600 there are other types of fines that grow much larger.
HAVE YOUR SAY! WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU?
Are you dealing with rooming house problems in your area? What do you want to see happen? Let us know at info@mpulse.ca and we may run your comments in an upcoming issue.
