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The City of Guelph recently approved of a series of renovations to apartments at 493 Victoria Road, in the north end of the city. The shadow of eviction has been looming over families in the months since the landlords at Daniko Management proposed reconfiguring the building to accommodate more units.
The 45-year-old building is rent controlled. The families residing in its units have called it home for decades. Evicting them, gutting the building, and adding newer, smaller units, is simply the fastest way for the landlord to capitalize on inflating rents and bypass rent-control policies.
"They're kicking us all out and making smaller apartments so they can make more money," says Morgan*, a resident who spoke to The North Star outside her apartment. "We've all been here a long time, so we're not paying market rent. They want us out to make more money."
Morgan, who was a baker before going on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), lives with her husband who works full-time, and two children, both of whom are autistic. Her family moved into the building thirteen years ago.
Given the ongoing housing crisis caused by the mass hoarding of homes by finance giants and a government united in ensuring homes in Ontario remain lucrative investments for the wealthy, many tenant families like Morgan's will struggle to find a new home.
The north end of Guelph is home to an established working-class community with factories and workshops employing workers throughout the area.
"It sucks. I really love this area," says tenant Bill Dawson. "We're going to struggle to find a place in this area." Dawson has been living at 493 for the last ten years and is a worker at a nearby factory.
Tenants at 493 are unconvinced by the landlords' justifications for demolition. "They say, 'Oh, it's for the greater good.' Well, you're displacing 16 families just to charge rents nobody can afford anyways," says Morgan. "They say it's to help the housing crisis, but they're not going to make smaller places to help the crisis."
Besides throwing families on the street, the landlords will also be fracturing a Guelph community. "We've all been here for a very long time. We've been the ones taking care of this building. We've been the ones putting the love on things. [The landlords] don't even come clean. We've all been out there, shovelling the parking lot sometimes and keeping things safe. We all help each other out," explains Morgan.
Dawson lamented that the housing crisis is driving many people across the country to homelessness. "They wonder why there's so many homeless people out there. This is exactly why. This is why families get ruined sometimes. Where are we going to go?"
Just last year, the City of Guelph played a role in mass evictions of the Stationview Apartments at 90 Carden Street. When an encampment was then raised in St. George's Square and in front of City Hall, the City proceeded with a crackdown to push Guelph's homeless population out of its city centre.
"I find when I'm at work, I'm less stressed out because I don't think about it," says Dawson, "but as soon as I come home, I just sit here, and, I look at these kids and go, 'Where am I going? What am I going to do?' It's tough."