Martina, who is on disability assistance, applied to the City’s Property Tax, Water & Solid Waste Relief program. She faxed in her application, but a year later, had not heard back from the City. Confused, she contacted City staff to see what had happened.
We were surprised to hear from Dmitri, a Russian resident who had continuing concerns about a fire that happened in his apartment in Moscow. While his email was addressed to the Moscow Ombudsman, Dmitri had sent it to our office instead.
Ms. T had a small leak on her water meter and called Toronto Water to fix it. The City worker accidentally snapped the pipe that held the meter. He turned off the water, then hooked Ms. T up to her neighbour’s pipe so she would have access to water until her pipe was fixed. No one told Ms. T what she was supposed to do next.
After getting a permit from the City, Ms. P built a pool in her backyard, with a fence surrounding it. Later, the City noticed that the fence and part of the pool were on City property. Ms. P had to redo the fence and thought the City should cover the cost since they had issued the permit.
In 2009, Mr. Y became one of 28 Toronto Urban Fellows (TUF) early-career professionals who received an intensive introduction to Toronto’s public service for one year. Each fellow has two six-month placements, chosen in a matching process that considers the fellow’s preferences and the assignments from the participating City divisions. Mr. Y received his first choice for the first placement but his ninth choice for the second. He believed the matching process was unfair.
The X family bought a new home in 1998 that was on a septic system. The previous owners and City staff told them sewer connections were available on their property and the home could be attached to City sewers easily. In 2008, the X’s asked Toronto Water for the connection location. The City gave them three marked maps. The contractor, following the maps, dug a moonscape of 14-foot holes and found nothing.
Ms. S is a senior. She lives with her adult son, who is blind. They came to our office to complain about a City shelter. Ms. S said the shelter was keeping her son’s disability benefits and that staff were harassing her.
Ms. B is a senior who receives social assistance and has lived for six years in a rent-geared-to-income Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) apartment. She returned from a hospital stay to find a letter from TCHC saying she was no longer eligible for a rent subsidy because documents were missing from her file. Then, TCHC withdrew more than $900 from her bank account for rent.
Mr. Q is a taxi driver. He applied to renew his licence with the Municipal Licensing & Standards Division (MLS) in June and paid the fee. MLS wrote to him that he was missing some paperwork and had 30 days to provide it. Unfortunately, Mr. Q was out of the country visiting an ill relative. When he did not send in the paperwork, MLS returned his cheque and told him that his licence was not renewed.