<figure class="wp-block-image size-large" style="margin: 0px;"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The owner of this Vinette Street apartment building wants to renovate to add more units — and current tenants are worried what it might mean for them. (Photo: Will Pearson)</figcaption></figure>

Some East City tenants face being displaced from their homes during construction of an addition to their apartment building – and they worry they won’t be able to find affordable housing if they’re forced to move.

Tara Alrutz, who has lived in the building at 720 Vinette Street for almost thirteen years, said it will be “extremely difficult” to find somewhere else to live during construction. She also fears she may not be able to move back once work is finished.

Alrutz has a disability and lives on a fixed income and shares her two-bedroom apartment with two other people.

“It would be impossible at current prices for us to find anything in the price range we’re at now,” she said.

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large" style="margin: 0px;"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Tara Ulrutz outside her home last month. (Photo: Brett Throop)</figcaption></figure>

In April, city council granted the building’s owner, known only as 2683809 Ontario Inc., zoning approval to add a third storey to the 10-unit apartment building and legalize two existing basement units. The plan is to add six additional units.

Tenant Wayne Stone is also worried about finding somewhere affordable to live while the construction is happening.

“Where are we supposed to go?” he said.

He pays $1,000 a month for his apartment, where his 10-year-old daughter lives with him part-time. He expects he will have to pay as much as double that amount if he’s forced to move, given Peterborough’s high rents.

“Unfortunately, sometimes things like this are done in ways to get rid of some people, because they can double the rent on the units,” he said.

Resident says landlord is “stonewalling” tenants

Stone said the landlord has kept tenants in the dark about the addition plan.

When he heard about the plan from a neighbour, he emailed the landlord asking if he was “going to give all the old tenants back their apartments” once construction is complete. But he never heard back, he said.

Alrutz said she has tried to get more information about the plan for an addition too, but has been “stonewalled.”

“If they’re basically stonewalling us, and not giving out any information at all, how are we supposed to know when we should maybe start looking for a storage unit for our stuff?” she said. “It’s been very stressful for me.”

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large" style="margin: 0px;"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Wayne Stone said tenants at 720 Vinette Street are still waiting to hear from their landlord about the planned renovation. (Photo: Brett Throop)</figcaption></figure>

The owner held a virtual open house last September where nearby property owners were invited to ask questions about the project – but tenants were never notified of the meeting, according to Alrutz.

“I’m not too impressed with that. I feel like we should have been in the loop as we do live here,” she said.

The building owner sent a notice of the open house to “all the landowners” within 120 metres of the apartment building, city planner Ian Walker told city council’s general committee last month.

Nearby property owners also received another notice about the project in the mail in March, this time from the city. It alerted them that city council’s general committee would consider a zoning change for the building on April 2.

Tenants didn’t receive that notice because the city doesn’t have their mailing addresses, according to Brendan Wedley, the city’s communications director. “The city… uses mailing info for property owners through its property tax records,” he wrote by email.

But the city asks owners of apartment buildings with seven or more units to post such notices in a location where all tenants can see it, according to Wedley. A notice of the meeting was also published in the Peterborough Examiner, he wrote.

Tenants have a right to move back once construction is done

It’s not clear when the owner plans to begin construction on the addition. Alrutz said she has not received a notice asking her to leave her apartment yet.

Peterborough Currents reached out to Scott Vanular, who is listed as a contact for the company that owns the building on a document submitted to the city. The only contact information on the document was an email address. He did not reply to multiple emails.

In Ontario, if a landlord wants a tenant to move out in order to make renovations or repairs, they must provide 120 days’ notice and provide reasons for ending the lease.

But if a tenant receives such a notice, “there’s no need to move out right away,” according to Prabhjot Singh, a staff lawyer at the Peterborough Community Legal Centre. Tenants are entitled to a hearing at the Landlord and Tenant Board before an eviction can be ordered.

Once the renovation work is completed, tenants also have the right to move back into their homes at the same rent the landlord could have charged if they stayed. They’re also entitled to compensation.

But Alrutz is worried it will be an uphill battle to get back into her unit after the addition is built.

“I’m not exactly hopeful about the situation given the amount of stonewalling that’s gone on towards the tenants,” Alrutz said. “We might have to fight through the Landlord and Tenant Board to get back in at the same price.”

Singh said many landlords use renovations as an “excuse” to get rid of tenants.

Often “the only goal is to get out the sitting tenants, especially the long-term sitting tenants whose rent is very low… so that landlords can re-rent the properties at a much higher rent,” he said.

He said tenants who want to move back into their homes after renovations face barriers. For one, it may be difficult to find short-term housing that they can leave once the renovations are done. If they instead have to sign a one-year lease at a new apartment, it may be hard to leave when their old unit is available again, he said.

On top of that, finding an affordable place to move to temporarily would be a challenge in Peterborough’s expensive rental market. “It’s very hard to find any place for long-term sitting tenants who’ve been paying very low rent,” Singh said.

Tenants shouldn’t be displaced in rush to build more housing, tenant says

Alrutz said she understands that Peterborough has a housing shortage and there is a need to build more units, but she said landlords shouldn’t “displace people” in the rush to fill the shortage.

Singh agreed that adding to the housing stock is “a positive thing.” But he said there’s no guarantee that the additional units the owner plans to build will be affordable, especially since the Ford government has eliminated rent control for new apartment units.

“The government should be investing in social housing… rather than private builders taking over the rental market and making it beyond the reach of an average person,” he said.

<figure class="wp-block-video" style="margin: 0px;"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">City councillors approve a zoning amendment for 720 Vinette Street on April 2, 2024 after questioning a land use planner hired by the building’s owner.</figcaption></figure>

At last month’s general committee meeting, city councillor Alex Bierk asked whether the addition would include affordable units. Marnie Saunders, a land use planner hired by the building’s owner, said her team will look into whether they can access any government programs that would allow them to provide affordable units.

According to a city staff report, the building’s owner said he is working with “local agencies such as the Elizabeth Fry Society to provide housing for tenants on a fixed income” during construction.

But Elizabeth Fry Society of Peterborough staff told Currents the organization is not involved in helping the tenants find new housing.

The organization previously rented some units at 720 Vinette Street as part of a housing program that has now ended.

“We currently do not have any housing occupancies with them anymore and that means we would not be supporting the relocation of residents,” wrote housing case manager Jill Snoddon by email.

Saunders told city councillors that the owner will work with tenants “to find alternative uni