MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam announces consultations on the St. James Town Act

TORONTO - NDP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam (Toronto Centre) marked the six year anniversary of the catastrophic fire at 650 Parliament Street by announcing a new consultation on legislation intended to prevent any repeat disasters.

“Six years after the fire at 650 Parliament Street, bad landlords are still getting away with negligence that threatens tenants’ lives,” MPP Wong-Tam said. “Tenants at 77 Howard are out thousands of dollars because the same landlord continued to fail to keep their property in a state of good repair.”

MPP Wong-Tam explained why they are holding this new consultation. “The St. James Town Act proposes an elegant solution to a systemic and ongoing problem. It emerged from deep conversation with tenant leaders across St. James Town and Ontario. But we are now six years into Ford’s anti-tenant government, and we need to ensure that it will continue to meet the moment.”

MPP Wong-Tam plans to reintroduce the St. James Town Act after consultation with stakeholders when the legislature resumes in October.

The survey can be filled out at: https://www.kristynwongtam.ca/sjt-act-survey

Quick Facts:

• The St. James Town Act was first introduced by former NDP MPP Suze Morrison in response to the catastrophic fire on August 21, 2018 at 650 Parliament Street.
• The St. James Town Act would force residential landlords of larger buildings to create a dedicated reserve fund for major repairs — something that condos are already required to do.
• Landlords would not be allowed to raise rents by a higher amount to put money into this fund.
• The province could set a rate of how much funds must go to this account each year and landlords would be forbidden from raising rents above the guideline as long as there are funds in their reserve account.
• The St. James Town Act was first introduced in 2019, and was re-introduced in 2021. Without government support, it died both times on the order papers.
• The fire at 650 Parliament Street displaced 1500 residents and was the largest residential tenant displacement in Ontario history.
• The City of Toronto was forced to pay almost $4 million in emergency tenant support because the landlord was unprepared and inadequately communicative with tenants following the catastrophe at 650 Parliament Street.
• On July 16, 2024, an electrical fire at 77 Howard Street caused by historic rain and poor maintenance forced approximately 800 tenants to lose power and the basic use of their homes for many days. Temporary power was initially restored due to generators however tenants still faced electricity limitations and some individual apartments remain severely damaged and uninhabitable today.