After double-digit rent hikes, High Park tenants are considering how to come together to fight back.

After escaping from their home in Ukraine, Vladimir Komlev and his family have found a new place to live in an apartment building in the High Park area. However, after hearing about the rent increases experienced by their neighbors in the same building, they are concerned about whether they can stay there. Komlev says that when they were looking for a new place to live with their four-year-old daughter, they knew that living in a big city would be expensive. But they didn't expect rents to increase to such an extent every year - some tenants have reported annual rent increases ranging from six to eleven percent, according to the tenants' association for this building.
After a year and a half of living out of suitcases, Komlev doesn't want to be forced to leave the building again. His hope is to provide stability for his daughter. "Thinking about this issue is somewhat terrifying. We might want to pack up everything and move elsewhere again." Komlev is not the only one concerned. This building is the residence of the Livmore High Park Tenants' Association. Currently, they are exploring the possibility of joining tenants from across the city in a rent strike in an effort to reduce prices.
However, Komlev has expressed that, as a new immigrant, he needs to learn more about the meaning of a rent strike before embracing this idea. In March, several tenants living in this building told CBC Toronto that they were told their rent would increase by almost 12 percent. Since the building was constructed after November 15, 2018, it is not subject to provincial rent control, which has capped increases at 2.5 percent annually for eligible buildings in 2023. The property manager, GWL Realty Advisors (GWLRA), did not agree to an interview with CBC Toronto. However, in an email, a representative stated that the tenants' association did not respond to their recent email sent on July 31 regarding their needs. They also mentioned that "many of the issues" raised in the association's letter sent in April and signed by over 500 tenants had been addressed.
Nevertheless, Cynthia Black and Ben Scott, tenants who have helped form the tenants' association, claim that GWLRA has not addressed their primary concern, which is the cost of rent. In the July 31 email from GWLRA reviewed by CBC Toronto, the company stated that they refrain from engaging in collective negotiations with residents. "Each rental unit is priced differently, and the economic circumstances of each individual are very personal," the email continued. Scott says that the association has never asked anyone for personal information. In a separate email to CBC Toronto, a spokesperson for the company mentioned that the company adjusts rents each year based on "market conditions" and that many of the units at Livmore High Park are "well below market rents in the area."

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