In March, the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) recommended in a report the sale of several houses. Some of these buildings had been home to senior tenants for a long time, and several of these seniors had received re-location exemptions for reasons of age or health.
Mr. and Mrs. E, who do not speak English, were visited by a municipal officer who told them that they had to clean up debris in their back and side yards. Mr. and Mrs. E could not understand the officer, so she left them a card with a phone number. Their daughter placed several calls to the number on the card but received no response to any of her messages.
Mr. C called us in January to talk about an unreasonable delay in getting a building permit from the City. According to the City’s website, the usual length of time for a permit is 10 days. He had made his submission on November 23. Mr. C and his partner were in touch with a zoning examiner by phone and email. The examiner told them to pick up the permit on Friday. They went to the office on Friday, but the permit was not ready.
Mr. T and his neighbours were missing their bus shelter. It was removed in September and Transportation Services told Mr. T in October that it was going to be replaced. A few weeks later Mr. T emailed Transportation Services asking for an update — no response. Near the end of November, Mr. T emailed our office about the missing shelter.
Mr. F is a senior with a spouse in long-term care. The tree in his yard, planted by the City of Etobicoke, was in terrible shape and he worried that someone could be injured. The City used to take care of the tree, but when he phoned about it, the City told him the tree was his problem.
Mr. W rents in a seniors’ building owned by Toronto Community Housing (TCHC). During the summer, TCHC was refurbishing balconies on one side of the building and, as a consequence, balcony doors were boarded up. The central air conditioning was not working and Mr. W was concerned about tenants who did not have their own air conditioning. He had spoken to TCHC, but nothing was done.
Mr. M called our office on behalf of an activist group to which he belonged. He complained that a non-profit organization had threatened to prevent his group from taking part in an event. The non-profit was not a part of the City of Toronto administration, but did receive grants from the City.
Mr. R noticed a sinkhole at the edge of the road in front of his place of work. The hole was about 30 cm across and a substantial 65 cm deep. He called 311 on July 7, 2010 and was told that someone would inspect the site within 24 hours. On July 22, the hole was still there and so Mr. R called 311 again.
Mr. H, a university student and TCHC tenant, asked for a retroactive deduction from his rent and a rent recalculation. He had recently learned he was entitled to claim a deduction from his income for child support when declaring his income to TCHC.