Voluntary trusteeship helps resident avoid eviction in Toronto Community Housing

Ariel Tozman –

A Moss Park resident says voluntary trusteeship over her finances improved her self-confidence after Toronto’s Community Housing Corpora­tion (TCHC) tried to evict her.

TCHC brought Cheryl Ti­veron to the Ontario Land and Tenant Board in 2017 for missed rent payments. In an eviction hearing, a TCHC law­yer suggested she find a money manager, leading her to contact the Neighbourhood Information Post (NIP), which helps people experiencing housing instabili­ty.

“My life changed … from that very first phone call,” Tiveron told the bridge.

Through trusteeship, people at risk of homelessness can au­thorize someone to receive their income. Drew Dyce, the NIP’s trusteeship program lead, ne­gotiated with TCHC to pay the debt and keep her housed.

“We would make sure that their rent is paid on time … and that they have good relation­ships with their landlords, and all their expenses are covered,” Gladys Wong said, the execu­tive director of NIP.

In 2011, Tiveron had fallen 16 feet from the rooftop patio of her apartment building. She hit the fire escape and landed in an underground garage pit, break­ing her spine and damaging her frontal lobe.

Tiveron said she’s been “very lucky” with her surgeries, but she struggles to manage her mental health. “I’m walking, and I’m fine, but I hear so many horror stories about people who come out of the hospital … and their house is gone and they have nothing.”

Nearly half of evictees in 2023 reported fair or poor men­tal health, compared with one in five members of the total population, according to Statis­tics Canada. More than one in four identified as having a dis­ability, more than double the society-wide rate.

After the accident, Tiveron said her self-confidence dropped to the point that she couldn’t leave her apartment. When she met Dyce, she said she’d come home from eviction hearings and sit in her closet.

“I don’t do drugs, I don’t drink, but I buy food and dollar store things for my neighbours because I thought it would make me popular. My whole identity of who I was … was just gone,” she said.

Six months ago, Tiveron said she began thinking about re­taking control of her finances. She said Dyce is teaching her to budget, and motivates her when she feels overwhelmed.

“What he’s taught me has spilled into my everyday life,” she said.

Through the Ontario Disabil­ity Services Pension (ODSP), Tiveron pays rent-geared-to-income. ODSP clients can set up direct payments (to TCHC) through a caseworker, but Dyce said navigating the process is “tricky” because a lot of tenants, especially those who “work a little bit,” don’t do their taxes correctly. In these cases, Dyce said, TCHC could determine they owe money for the past months.

“Tenants may have some ar­rears that they really didn’t even know about until they get their notice of assessment,” he said. “ODSP clients don’t have … a large savings (account) just sit­ting around.”

According to TCHC’s web­site, tenants receiving disabili­ty benefits can be charged back rent if they fail to notify coor­dinators of a “permanent change in income” within 30 days.

Tiveron said she went to TCHC over 100 times for help before they tried to evict her.

“I would call them crying, saying I need help. I need help. I need help … They took me to the Landlord and Tenant Board to evict me.”

When Tiveron moved into her apartment a year after the ac­cident, she said she was “told nothing” about assistance with money management. “When they know they are admitting a tenant who has brain trau­ma, mental health issues,” they should help make sure their rent is paid.

TCHC’s tenant coordinators refer clients “on very, very thin ice” to the Neighbourhood In­formation Post before issuing an eviction notice, Dyce said. Tive­ron’s experience isn’t “common practice,” but “it depends on the luck of the draw.”

Some coordinators are going to be really good and intelligent and smart and “have the answers to help their tenants … some are just not very well informed and really don’t care about their ten­ants at all,” he said.

TCHC did not reply a re­quest for comment.