Anthony Marcusa –
To support tenants experiencing rental displacement and bad-faith demovictions, City Council has adopted new guidelines to monitor and evaluate rental housing demolition applications.
The Rental Replacement Handbook, created by Dillon Consulting Limited in conjunction with tenants, developers and housing advocates, seeks to clarify expectations, rights and responsibilities regarding housing demolition and replacement. The guidelines aim to ensure that tenants facing temporary displacement have financial support and receive equitable replacement units, protect those with special needs, and promote clear communication.
Walied Khogali Ali, co-ordinator of Neighbourhood Pods TO and co-chair of the Regent Park Neighbourhood Association, is optimistic about the guidelines, though he and others hoped for a more comprehensive framework to protect tenants, particularly racialized, low-income, and immigrant communities.
“We need to strengthen enforcement and monitoring,” Ali said. “There needs to be transparency. We need outcomes reported, and we need to collect and publish data on tenant relocation.”
Tenants surveyed by Dillon criticized a lack of engagement and support from developers, particularly for vulnerable tenants, as well as uncertain timelines and poor replacement housing. Advocates called for compensation reviews and increased oversight and City support. They also argued for recognition of not just the financial hardship, but also of the social and mental struggles that can arise when tenants are uprooted.
The downtown’s Ward 13 (Toronto Centre) has the most residential construction starts over the last three years, including 3,889 in 2024.
City Council also confirmed that the Planning and Housing Committee receive further measures and resources to support tenants facing demovictions by January 2026.
The tenant collective No Demovictions urged more protection for renters. The group called for strengthening enforcement, meaningful and accessible support and outreach to renters, and ensuring fairness and equity in compensation and replacement units.
“Our recommendation supports maintaining affordable rental housing across Toronto by monitoring speculative practices in housing development, and ensuring that all tenants have safe, adequate housing while they are displaced.”
The new guidelines were supported by Neighbourhood Pods TO, the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations, Right to Housing Toronto, the Moss Park Coalition and Social Planning Toronto.
“Demovictions often result in the permanent loss of deeply affordable housing and destabilize already vulnerable communities,” stated Nellie’s women’s shelter, which support the No Demoviction recommendations. “Many of the people we serve face complex barriers including trauma, language access issues, and lack of knowledge about their rights. Tenants often tell us they are confused by the process, unaware of their entitlements, and afraid to speak up.”
Development groups pushed back on certain items in the guidelines. “If tenants return to a larger unit with more bedrooms, they should pay rent commensurate with the upgraded unit size,” wrote Danielle Binder of the Building Industry and Land Development Association.
Dillon’s report noted differences between tenants and developers, including the level of compensation provided to displaced individuals. “The development community indicated that tenant compensation packages, including rent gap assistance, impacted the feasibility and increased the complexity of redevelopment applications.”
Ali offered some simple solutions. “Build more rent-geared-to-income housing,” he said.
“It’s not just an issue of supply. Have a pathway to home ownership, and provide social housing communities protections against displacement and gentrification.”
Ali is part of an initiative to increase awareness of tenant rights and resources in order to prevent unfair demovictions. The project, funded in part by the federal Department of Justice, seeks to provide multilingual legal education, workshops and webinars, and community outreach to advocate for housing rights in Regent Park.
No Demovictions pointed to a fundamental conflict in renter displacement.
“Developers and tenants are informed by a completely different set of needs,” the group wrote. Developers have a ‘fiduciary responsibility to maximize profit,” and are “required to advocate for policies and legislation that would shortchange the tenants.”
This basic tension will continue, Ali agreed. “We need to disincentivize financializing housing.”
