Shahroze Rauf | Assistant News Editor
Featured Image: Third-year environmental studies student Andrew Van Norden has to move again, the sixth time in 18 months. | Fatema Ali
Third-year environmental studies student, Andrew Van Norden, will be moving out of his house for the sixth time in the past 18 months.
Van Norden, who lives in the Village, received a message January 21 from his landlord stipulating that he had to move out. The City of Toronto claims the property is not fit for multi-tenant rooming, and violated fire codes.
“I’m still in shock that this has happened to me all over again just after 22 days of living here,” Van Norden says.
The owner of the multi-tenant house that was found to be unfit, who wishes to remain anonymous, felt bad for his student tenants.
“I understand city officials are just trying to do their job,” he says.
The owner also attempted to call the City of Toronto to request an additional month for Norden, as his financial situation while being a full-time student is difficult.
Despite his efforts, the City of Toronto rejected this request, and expects Norden to be out by the end of February.
“The reasons for me leaving each of the residences have all been different. However, these problems can all be point-sourced to the City of Toronto Housing,” Van Norden says.
However, according to the City of Toronto website and the Director of Investigations Services with Municipal Licensing and Standards, Mark Sraga, in areas such as the former City of York, North York, and Scarborough, rooming houses are not permitted.
“The new harmonized zone by-law that came into effect does not allow for rooming houses in those former municipal areas, and the Village is one of those areas,” says Sraga.
Aside from the municipal government, Van Norden says student-tenants have to deal with landlords who do not follow proper procedure. This can come in the form of violating lease terms, to even illegal evictions.
“They made arbitrary demands and accusations, and showed up on the premises randomly and without notice. My previous roommate down the hall suffers from a mental illness. In the last month of my tenancy, they illegally evicted him—changing his locks and removing his property from the room—leading him to destroy the rear window of the house so that he could enter and recover his property, which resulted in his arrest,” Van Norden says.
To combat these issues, Van Norden is also the founder of the York Village Housing Association (YVHA), a group he innitiated with a friend to share stories and experiences of students living in the Village. They hope to raise awareness for students and their rights as tenants under the Landlord & Tenant Act.
“Oftentimes, students find themselves in precarious situations during their time as Village residents, and we feel it is important to share these stories and seek consultation about living in the area through experienced tenants.”
The YVHA has also looked at many current laws concerning living standards of multi-tenant homes, and have noticed that the City of Toronto is taking action to enforce these regulations.
“However, they fail to look at the occupancy of students, myself included, who are being displaced as a result of shutting down these rooming houses,” Van Norden says.
Going forward, the YVHA hopes to get York involved with issues that affect students who live off-campus in multi-tenant homes.
