The East Scarborough Tenants Union look to stop managers from freezing their tenants

For years, tenants living in CAPREIT Housing have been complaining about the poor heating in their homes, but countless times, their complaints have been ignored.

Harshita Singh, a tenant living in a rent-established apartment on the third floor said that the temperatures are under -10 every day and has filed more than 300 complaints but still, the landlords have done nothing. Other tenants say they have to wear jackets to bed because the buildings heat isn’t on high enough.

A community organization called the East Scarborough Tenants Union (ESTU) decided to gather together to spread awareness and to demand that the landlords do something about this ongoing situation. “We just want to send the message that enough is enough and something needs to be done, it has to change,” said one of the organization leaders. The ESTU along with the tenants living in the apartments gathered together in front of the building, to protest and get the attention of the landlords in office. Many gathered with posters and megaphone speakers, while others were seen on their balconies banging on their pots & pans. The event went on for approximately 10 minutes before they decided to return to their homes. But the protesting did not end there. Many of the young tenants and organization leaders went on to their social media platforms to continue to spread the message and to get the attention of the CEO of CAPREIT, Mark Kennedy.

Khalood, a member of the ESTU who did not want to provide his last name, said “One single mom complained she has to put on heaters in the bathrooms every time she needs to bathe her baby.” He then said, “Everyone has the same complaint, and their complaints have been consistently dismissed by management for years.”

Today, Tenants are still complaining about the cold temperatures in their homes and Capreit has deleted hundreds of comments on their Twitter and Instagram pages. Posters were put up on walls and letters were sent telling tenants they care about their heating but have not mentioned anything about the campaign.