Rent Is Due Today, But Millions Of Canadians Can’t Pay
The first of the month for many means their rent is due, but since the pandemic, millions of people have lost their job which means they can no longer keep up with their bill payments.
According to Statistics Canada, Ontario's unemployment rate climbed to 11.3 per cent compared to 5.5 per cent in February.
Even with the help of the Canadian Emergency Relief Benefit and Employment Insurance, many people cannot afford to pay their rent.
Hamza its just one of the millions of Canadians who could no longer afford to pay their rent when the lockdown was initiated.
“As soon as the lockdown started and we lost our jobs, I sent an email out to our landlord asking for some sort of clemency. I didn’t qualify for EI, neither did anyone in my family. Instead of addressing the rent clemency issue, our landlord completely ignored the topic and she asked us to change our payment method,” said Hamza.
Hamza and Steve are not alone as many struggled with the second month since the pandemic started to pay rent again.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) surveyed 1,100 renters from across the country as the May 1 rent deadline came closer.
Nearly 70 per cent of renters reported being impacted financially by the crisis, and around 35 per cent said they don’t have enough money to pay rent for the month of May.
While some are lucky to have understanding and sympathizing landlords, others, like in Hamza’s and Steve’s situation are not.
“As time went by I learned of more peoples issues where she was sending out notices to people during the lockdown. She was a lot more harsh with them than with us,” said Hamza. “I have even heard of her going door to door, asking people to pay with a debit machine.”
Hamza is fed up and angry with his landlord. While he hasn't fallen for her intimidation tactics, other tenants have.
“One person that lived on the fifth floor didn’t qualify for CERB, was out of a job, and has four kids. She scared that guy so much that he just up and left the building. She can’t evict anyone legally, all the courts are shut down. She used scare tactics and intimidated him,” said Hamza.
Hamza says that Covid19 hasn’t changed the system or his landlord, it just exposed her oppressive tendencies that were already there to begin with.
“Going forward myself and the tenants are going to have a different relationship with her. We’re not going to be divided and conquered by her like before,” said Hamza.
Hamza says in a time like this, people should not have to take out loans and ask family members to pay for their rent on their behalf.
“That is absolutely terrible. You shouldn’t have to ask your family members to support you financially when their financial future might be uncertain to,” said Hamza.
Hamza discusses the solutions and demands he proposes.
“We need to create a tenants union and start working from there,” said Hamza. “The right to unionize ourselves. We want rent clemency for the people who cannot pay their rent.”
