Tenants could become homeless due to highrise redevelopment in Brampton, housing advocate warns

“Building houses shouldn’t leave people homeless.”

That’s the message an affordable housing group brought to Brampton City Council over a proposed apartment redevelopment where dozens of residents are facing eviction due to demolition.

507 Balmoral Dr. is a 1.36-hectare property in Brampton, which is currently home to a four-storey apartment building with about 55 units, many of which are occupied by seniors or residents with medical or mobility issues.

Local Coun. Pat Fortini said he was “shocked” when a visit to the building this week revealed units with no heat, leaks, mould and a broken elevator, among other issues.

“I feel for those people, like where are we living here?” Fortini said in council chambers on Wednesday. “This is Brampton,” he added, while calling on the building owners to “keep the standard” for residents.

Ruth Garner has lived in the building for more than 40 years, and has seen three owners come and go, adding that the current managers “are the worst.”

It took three months to replace a screen door on her unit in the heat of summer, and has also dealt with water and heating issues.

“I don’t know what to do about this place,” she told INsauga.com, saying there has been little to no communication from owners and building managers.

And tenants like Garner have also been living under threat of a possible demolition for years, with developers wanting to transform the site by replacing the building with three highrise towers between 15 and 19 storeys tall.

The proposed towers would add some 900 residential units to the city with ground-floor commercial space.

But without a rental replacement bylaw on the books, housing advocate group Peel ACORN says current residents won’t be able to afford living at 507 Balmoral if the redevelopment goes ahead, and could end up homeless.

“It’s not just protecting tenants, it’s protecting your affordable housing supply,” ACORN leader Tanya Burkhart said of rental replacement bylaws in an interview with INsauga.com.

Burkhart says bringing in a municipal rental replacement bylaws could give renters like those at 507 Balmoral additional protections that go beyond provincial rules, like giving displaced tenants the right to return to their unit at relatively the same rent, coverage of moving costs, additional compensation beyond the provincially-required three months.

ACORN has called on Brampton City Council multiple times to adopt rental replacement bylaws, similar to those in Mississauga and Toronto, but those calls have gone unanswered.

Burkhart warns that Brampton’s affordable housing stock is being demolished and “isn’t going to be replaced,” even with local exclusionary zoning rules and a provincial 5 per cent cap on affordable housing.

She came to council on Wednesday to again plead for better local protections for residents like those at 507 Balmoral and to preserve the city’s dwindling supply of affordable rentals.

A report last year showed a 20-year wait time for some affordable housing units in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon.

Ontario requires landlords demolishing buildings with five or more residential units to give tenants an amount equal to three months’ rent, or offer another rental unit that is acceptable to the tenant.

Kyle Hulme, CPO of Balmoral owners Lankin Investments, told council that the company plans to “go above and beyond” provincial and city regulations, like help pay for moving expense, providing residents with a leasing agent to find a new home, or “relocating” displaced tenants to another one of their approximately 1,000 units in Brampton.

“The Last thing we want is for someone to become homeless because of us going forward with the development,” Hulme said in a retort to Burkhart, saying the company has “a commitment to the city of Brampton, and to the community and to our organization, to make sure we’re doing the right things.”

Hulme also responded to Fortini’s comments about the current state of the 507 Balmoral building, saying there is a part-time super on-site, a property manager and a community manager, and promised to follow up and deal with any outstanding issues.

Lankin Investments has some 6,000 rental units across southern Ontario, Hulme said.

An updated land use application from Gagnon Walker Domes Ltd. on behalf of a company called Balmoral Inc. reduced the height of the proposed towers due to airport zoning rules.

Plans include 13 bachelor suites, 453 one-bedroom units, 367 two-bedroom units and 99 three-bedroom units, but the project could take upwards of five years to get started.

Hulme said there have been no decision made on whether the units will be condos or rentals, and that it’s still unknown “when and if the development would take place.”