Toronto Renters Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: William on October 06, 2021, 08:18:00 pm
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From the Office of MPP Jessica Bell:
Good evening,
MPP Jessica Bell will hold a virtual press conference tomorrow morning, Thursday October 7th at 9:30am to address her request to the Ombudsman to expand its investigation into whether the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) is meeting its duty to provide justice to Ontarians. The LTB processes over 80,000 cases a year and 90% of these cases are filed by landlords, filing for an eviction. The LTB is the second most complained about organization in Ontario (prisons and jails are first) and has not met its own service standards since 2017.
Housing and justice advocates know all too well how the now permanent move to online hearing has led to additional delays, and access to justice issues, especially for low and moderate income tenants. Here’s a summary of some of the concerns we have heard:
● The LTB’s online hearing process is disorganized, chaotic and lengthy.
● There continues to be long delays for a hearing, even for emergency cases. One constituent in our riding, a father of two children, was told he had to wait 70 days for a hearing after his landlord illegally locked him out of his home when he went to get vaccinated.
● Many Ontarians are unable to fully participate in their online hearing, or even participate at all. To fully participate a person needs a fast internet connection, a computer, a lot of time on their hands, a room free of distraction, computer literacy skills, and written and verbal fluency in English or French. Lower income tenants, racialized and indigenous people and people living in rural areas are more likely to face literacy, numeracy, language, and technological barriers that impede them from fully participating online, sometimes they can call on via phone, or sometimes they don’t participate at all.[1]
● The online format has made it very difficult for tenants to access free legal advice from duty council. Over 80% of landlords have access to legal representation, while only 2.6% of tenants do. Legal representation helps ensure hearings are fair.
You are invited to join our press conference tomorrow at 9:30 (details below) and we encourage you to send a supporting release or statement to insist on a more fair and just system for all.
Please be in touch if you have any questions and thank you.
The office of MPP Jessica Bell.
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News Release:
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MPP Jessica Bell (University-Rosedale), the Ontario NDP's Housing critic, will hold a virtual press conference Thursday to address her request to the Ombudsman to expand its investigation into whether the Landlord and Tenant Board is meetings its duty to provide justice to Ontarians.
Bell will be joined by a tenant who has faced technological and language barriers to accessing his virtual eviction hearing.
Thursday, Oct. 7
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Location: Zoom
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89526366432?pwd=emhvQUdPSVhBYlJRTStnR2lrQVEwQT09
Passcode: 444197
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Updated information regarding this...
MPP urges Ombudsman to investigate online LTB failings (https://www.jessicabellmpp.ca/ombudsman)
Barriers to access justice at the Landlord and Tenant Board (https://www.facebook.com/UniRoseJessicaBell/videos/2743512915942883/)