Hamilton housing group opposes city grant to developer accused of renovictions

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Published October 16, 2019 at 9:02 pm

Hamilton ACORN’s Mike Wood appeared before the General Issues Committee on Wednesday (Oct. 16) to protest a developer’s application for a city grant.

Hamilton ACORN’s Mike Wood appeared before the General Issues Committee on Wednesday (Oct. 16) to protest a developer’s application for a city grant.

Malleum Properties, which owns two currently vacant walk-up apartment building on Barton Street East, applied to the city to take advantage of the Barton Kenilworth Tax Increment Grant Program, which aims to provide incentives for investment in parts of the city that have seen little over the last few decades.

The application seeks $35,042.70 over a maximum of nine years.

ACORN, Wood said Wednesday during his delegation, feels Malleum should not be allowed to take advantage of the city incentive program.

“[Taxpayer’s money] should not be given to developers with a history of displacing low-income families,” Wood said.

Wood claimed that ACORN has come up against this developer before in dealing with tenants who were forced out of other buildings in Hamilton. He specifically drew the committee’s attention to a property at 41 Albert St. owned by Malleum that is currently for sale.

The sale advertisement points to the fact that there are 13 units in the building, eight of which have been renovated. The other five, Wood claims, are occupied by tenants that have “held firm” against tactics to have to them removed to make way for renovations, or renovictions as they’ve come to be known.

The ad stipulates that once the remaining units are renovated, landlords can expect to charge approx. $1295 a month in rent — possibly more.

In reference to recent local media coverage of the housing crisis in the city, Wood pointed out that there are 15,400 people in Hamilton waiting for subsidized or affordable housing in the city.

“[The city] has to protect our affordable housing stock,” he said.

A motion put forth by Ward 3 Councillor Nrinder Nann earlier this month, which will come into effect January 2020, seeks to protect tenants from renovictions by refusing applications to developers who have a proven history of renovictions.

Also, applicants will have to submit the number of tenants occupying any units in the buildings they propose to redevelop and those tenants will then be given comprehensive information packages about their rights under the Landlord-Tenant Act, as well as details on the Hamilton rental market with listings comparable to their current home.

But there’s still time before these new rules come into play, and the fear is that tenants will be left out to dry in the interim.

Councillors Sam Merulla and Chad Collins were first to point out that while Wood’s and ACORN’s concerns are valid, in this case, the buildings are empty and there’s no proof of Malleum engaging in the practice of renovictions.

Councillor Terry Whitehead voiced his concern that even though the property was vacant at the time Malleum applied for the grant, he worried about how long it had been vacant and how tenants were removed from the property.

“Were the tenants pressured?” he asked. Adding that he felt there should be more in-depth background checks into companies in the application process.

Councillors also voiced their reluctance to turn away the possible investment in a property in a neighbourhood that could use the redevelopment.

“I don’t have anything in front of me that tells me we shouldn’t make this investment,” Collins said.

Inthehammer reached out to Malleum to respond to these allegations.

“At the time of our purchase in 2017 this property was completely vacant, and we believe it had been for many years,” Malleum said in an email response. “The building was in complete disrepair and it was home to illicit activity at the time of our purchase. We have taken meaningful risk and invested considerable capital in order to repair the building in order to create four new homes for local families.”

As far as allegations of engaging in renoviction activities, the company maintains:

“We strictly adhere to, and go beyond, our obligations with respect to repair and upkeep of buildings as well as our obligation to operate within Ontario’s laws. We are in strong support of the City introducing harsh consequences for any landlord who illegally ‘renovicts’ tenants or in any case where a landlord neglects their obligations related to repairs and upkeep. Months ago as well as earlier today, we expressed this support to the City’s Mayor, Council, and staff including strong support for the denial of economic incentives for any landlord or developer who breaks the law or otherwise neglects tenants. We are in strong agreement with groups, such as ACORN, who are advocating for the City to crack down on landlords who illegally ‘renovict’ or neglect tenants.”

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