Nearly 300 members of the new Toronto Tenant Union gathered this weekend to finalize the vision for its work in the city and to bring in new leadership.
The York South-Weston Tenant Union and Climate Justice TO recently merged to form TTU, which provides city-wide resources and advocates for all renters in Toronto. Sharlene Henry and Bruno Dobrusin were voted in as co-chairs.
“We will bring our wins from York South-Weston to all of the city,” said Chiara Padovani, former York South-Weston Tenant Union co-chair and Weston resident, during opening remarks at the gathering on Saturday, April 18.
Padovani added that the merger made sense since York South-Weston Tenant Union and Climate Justice TO had been working together on housing-related issues across Toronto for years.
TTU says its mission is to fight for full rent control for tenants, an end to evictions, the right to organize, the right to strike, public homes in public hands, to live in safe and dignified homes, and landlord transparency.
The new union will share resources between its three branches covering York South-Weston, the Don Valley and Scarborough areas and the downtown core to advocate for these changes.
Little Jamaica resident Anyika Mark told The Green Line that learning about TTU and thinking about the power it’ll have across Toronto left her feeling energized and ready to volunteer.
“We need to start winning, and I think this is the foundation,” Mark said. “This is going to be the start for working-class people to start winning in this city.”
TTU member Angelia Brown, who also lives near Keele and Eglinton, echoed Mark on why Toronto needs a group like TTU to support renters across the city.
“We are suffering in the city when it comes to rent; we don’t have a lot of people to [speak] for us,” she said. “When I am with this union…I feel empowered to stand up for myself and my fellow residents.”
HOW CAN TTU SUPPORT RENTERS?
TTU shares tenant rights information and resources through social media, tenant gatherings and community outreach.
Previous work, including rent rallies and rent strikes, which the union organized when it was two separate organizations, can now be done across the city, according to Padovani.
When renters are in trouble with landlords and request support, TTU can provide them with concrete actions to take based on their historic knowledge and prior successes.
“After our rent strikes, we have been contacted by tenants across the city who are saying, ‘We also want to organize.’ This is the chance to do it,” co-chair Henry, who also co-chaired the York South-Weston Tenant Union, said in a press release.
Weston resident and TTU member Carl Henry said Torontonians with rental problems are usually too afraid to share them with their landlords due to fear of backlash or eviction. Now, with the merger, “we’re giving you this information [about tenant rights] to succeed.”
Henry said TTU will go to whoever they need to get the changes they want, including landlords, the City of Toronto, or the provincial and federal governments. “The only [way] we’re going to reach the government is if we form unions like this, get them bigger so they notice us,” he explained.
Two-time mayoral candidate and local resident Chloe Brown attended Saturday’s convention as an observer to learn more about how Torontonians can be part of the redevelopments happening across the city.
“If we can get tenants more involved in not only talking about where housing goes, but what housing does for generations of tenants, we can have a better city that not only serves residents but serves the working class at large,” Brown explained.
Brown sees TTU as an opportunity to get cross-generational involvement in tenant organizing. “This is our first opportunity to organize ourselves as the majority,” she said.
