The housing crisis was top of mind at an anti-renoviction barbecue in Verdun last Friday (Sept 8).

The event was hosted by the Comité d'action des citoyen.ne.s de Verdun (CACV) behind their offices on Verdun Avenue. Organizers and community members took the mic to share their experiences of rising rents, political inaction, and hostile landlords.

Speaking to CKUT, the CACV’s Lyn O’Donnell argued that rising property values gives landlords the incentive to turf long-term tenants.

Renovictions, in which a landlord evicts a tenant to conduct major repairs, are seen throughout the city. Even though tenants have the right to return, this often isn’t observed in practice, O’Donnell said.

In Verdun, however, they’re also seeing tenants kicked out when landlords subdivide or fuse together existing apartments. These evictions are permanent.

“Now when … landlords want to make these renovations, they’re kicking someone out who has nowhere else to go.”

The CACV would like to see local government do more on this file. That’s why they’re calling for a moratorium on permits that would lead to evictions.

For single mom Mélissa Simard, who spoke at Friday’s barbecue, the fight against evictions is personal. She said that when she fought for necessary repairs to her unit, her landlord responded by trying to evict her, and keeps taking cases to the housing tribunal (TAL) in the hopes of getting a favourable judge.

Simard has lobbied local politicians, but to no avail: she says the solidarity she’s found in groups like the CACV has helped her keep fighting.

“I think it’s totally discouraging… The individual is the one that has to navigate those systems. The individual is the one that has to fight so hard to see change.”

“Despite all of that, I will not give up.”

The Verdun borough council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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