PSP Displaces Tenants

Tenants at 71, 75, and 79 Thorncliffe Park Drive are on rent strike in protest of rent increases that will force people out of their homes!

Tenants at 71, 75, and 79 Thorncliffe Park Drive in Toronto are fighting above guideline rent increases that will force people out of their homes and push them out of their community. They are being asked to pay a 4.2% rent increase for 2022 and rent increases of up to 5.5% in 2023, which they can’t afford. PSP Investments, a Canadian Crown corporation that manages pension funds for federal public service workers and others, owns the buildings through its partner Starlight Investments. If tenants are forced out, the landlords can raise the rent as much as they want for new tenants. On May 1, 2023, over 100 tenants began withholding rent in protest of the rent hikes. In response, PSP Investments and Starlight Investments filed to evict tenants in Thorncliffe Park.

In the news

Thorncliffe Park tenants deliver a collective letter to Starlight’s head office demanding that Starlight withdraw the AGI applications. Across the three buildings, more than 650 tenants have added their names to this demand.

 
 

Tenants from 71, 75, and 79 Thorncliffe Park hold a neighbourhood rally in protest of the rent hikes.

What’s an Above Guideline Increase?

 

In Ontario, above guideline increases (AGIs) allow landlords to transfer the costs of certain renovations and repairs on to tenants, resulting in rent increases of up to 3% above the provincial rent increase guideline for 3 years in a row. Policymakers claim that AGIs allow landlords to maintain aging rental buildings. In reality, AGIs allow landlords to increase their profits on the backs of tenants, forcing people out of their homes when they can no longer afford rent. Once tenants are forced out, landlords bring in new tenants at much higher rent. Most AGI applications come from large corporate and financialized landlords. These are landlords making significant profits who can afford to maintain buildings without passing such costs on to tenants, increasing financial hardship, and pushing people out of their homes. Starlight Investments has applied for more AGIs than any other landlord in Toronto since 2012.