Blog Feed

By Shawn Selway for King Street Tenants United

According to on-the-ground estimates made by King Street Tenants United, the managers of the LRT land procurement process have thus far removed from the rail corridor the residents of 178 mostly rental dwelling units, and shuttered about 57 commercial fronts. This does not quite square with what Kris Jacobson, the director of the LRT project office, told Council’s General Issues Committee on Dec 4. Jacobson reported that Metrolinx had acquired 15 residential properties containing 55 residential units, only 40 of which were occupied.  The discrepancy suggests that Tenants United may be counting vacant units not actually held by Metrolinx, or that Metrolinx may be underreporting the number of residential tenants affected. (For details of the KSTU methodology, see the relevant article here.)

In addition to Metrolinx activity, many other properties are changing hands in and around King East, and the displacement of renters by private speculators who are buying in or near the corridor and renovicting sitting tenants is much harder to quantify. What is certain is that there is a great deal of turmoil.

Who are the people who are being pushed out?

Back in March 2009, IBI Group consultants working with HDR Decision Economics delivered an “Economic Potential Study” of the Hamilton Rapid Transit Initiative, as it was then called.  The study concentrated primarily on the B-line corridor and was meant to be “indicative” rather than whatever the converse is called in consultant-speak.  The study included a “social needs assessment” of those who were living in the corridor, and the results of that assessment were summarized as follows.

The proposed rapid transit corridor covers areas of relatively high social need. Persons with social needs may include those who are unemployed, lone parent families, low educational attainment, low income or high rates of government assistance. The B-Line corridor stands out within Hamilton as well as regionally, provincially, and nationally in every category except for its proportion of seniors. For example, 35% of people living in the corridor are classified as low income compared to the national average of 15%. The implementation of rapid transit should be positive in that it provides these individuals with greater access to employment opportunities and health and wellness activities, but cautioned (sic) must be exercised so as not to displace these individuals from the corridor. (IBI/HDR p.3)

Comparison of Social Need Indicators

Indicator	Corridor	Hamilton	GTHA	Ontario	Canada
Government Transfers as a proportion of total income	20.60%	12.90%	9.30%	9.80%	11.10%
Population over 65	14.80%	14.20%	12.20%	13.60%	13.70%
Lone parents	23.60%	14.70%	14.20%	15.80%	15.90%
No high school certificate or diploma	38.50%	28.70%	24.10%	22.20%	25.50%
Low income	35.60%	16.20%	12.40%	14.70%	15.30%
Unemployment rate	10.40%	5.80%	5.20%	6.40%	6.60%

Since, obviously, the low income earners cannot benefit from the transit if they are no longer in the neighbourhood, IBI’s cautionary note implies the implementation of a housing programme in advance of the transit build, but during the ensuing ten years nothing of the sort has been undertaken. For reasons too numerous to discuss here, the production of affordable housing, rental or otherwise for working and dependent individuals of lower income has never been accepted as a legitimate object of public policy by politicians of any party at any level of government, and their position has steadily worsened. It has become especially difficult in the portion of East Central Hamilton bounded roughly by Ferguson, King, Barton and Kenilworth – that is, the east end of the LRT corridor, as attested by numerous reports. Also being increasingly impoverished are renters in the Centennial neighbourhoods of East Hamilton, where Real Estate Investment Trusts own the rental towers.

I want to discuss here the benefits to be gained from the initiation of a non-market housing alternative to the state-sponsored gentrification policies which are disrupting the lives of an ever larger number of Hamiltonians. The cancellation of the LRT may give us a chance to start limiting the harm done by this hellish machinery, to opt out of the pervasive condo-ism which is exacerbating many of our problems, and to develop a less imitative and more innovative strategy for Hamilton.

Let’s begin with the city’s own statement of the problem.

In April of 2018 staff produced a report titled “Defining Affordable Housing and Hamilton’s Rental Housing Market” for the edification of the Healthy and Safe Communities Committee.  In addition to supplying careful definitions of affordability as defined by income comparisons and alternately by price comparisons, the authors discussed local rental market conditions.

In 2017, the average market rent (AMR) for all units in Hamilton was $943 per/month. One bedroom apartments rented for an average of $850/mo., while units with three + bedrooms had an AMR of $1,159/mo. . . .  rents and rent increases vary widely across the city as well. CMHC data shows rents are highest in Ancaster, Flamborough and Glanbrook while the most affordable rental housing is located in Central East Hamilton. . .

…Compared to neighbouring municipalities, rents in Hamilton remain relatively affordable; however, this affordability gap is closing. Rents in Hamilton are increasing faster than any other major urban centre in southern Ontario. Rents in the GTA remain the highest in the province; however, the places with the most rapidly increasing rents tend to be centres on the periphery of the GTA. Along with Hamilton, rents in Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo, Burlington and Brantford are rising most quickly.  

Last summer, while members of King Street Tenants United were organizing meetings of LRT – threatened tenants, the organization received this message from a local landlord:

Subject: recent meetings at Bernie Morelli Centre

Message: Hello there. Your recent notices of meetings have caused a lot of unnecessary anxiety bordering on panic with a lot of tenants. Perhaps a more focused contact system could be investigated. I am a small landlord who sympathizes with tenant concerns, however please consider that tenants should never think they will stay in a building for life. This seems to be a bit of a Hamilton issue. Tenants need more support in terms of living together, sharing apartments or perhaps (and this is stressful) finding alternative accommodations in other Ontario cities. That is just part of the stress of the LRT changes. All the best.

This opinion, that a proportion of Hamiltonians should just move on now that others wish to come here, seems to be the view of some at City Hall as well.

It is not openly expressed but can be inferred from the train of decisions and omissions. This might have made wicked sense at one time.  Ten years ago it was wrong for Toronto to let market pressures force emigration on some of its residents and to export its problems to other cities; it was wrong, but it was workable. No more. There is nowhere else for renters to go to better their condition. Increased pressure on wages and rents locally can only deepen poverty. Municipal strategies which exacerbate the housing affordability problem today look less like indifference and more like active hostility, as pointless as it is cruel.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives last year published a series of interactive maps on which the rental wage can be viewed neighbourhood by neighbourhood. Taking a housing occupancy cost of 30% of gross income as the measure of affordability, a renter in East Central Hamilton in 2019 would have to have been making $18.57 an hour in order to pay for a 2 bedroom place.  At the fourteen dollar minimum wage they would have had to work 53 hours a week. This area, north of King, is the cheapest part of the city. South of King Street, the “rental wage” jumps to $19.34, and it is higher everywhere else. The numbers for the city as a whole are $23 and 65 hours.

Here are the figures for a few Ontario cities, taken from the CCPA maps:

Occupancy cost = 30% income	Hamilton	Kitchener	Guelph	St. Catharines	Brantford	Windsor
Rental wage	23	22	22	20	19	18
Hours at $14	65	64	64	57	55	50

A little exploration within these maps brings one to the conclusion that there are very few neighbourhoods within any of these cities to which someone could re-locate from East Central Hamilton to a comparable or cheaper apartment. This is so even after discounting moving costs, the fact that vacancy rates are lower where rents are lower, and the realities of vacancy decontrol in Ontario. Even if you move around within your own neighbourhood, you will pay much more than you are paying now.  And there are other considerations: the loss of friendships and other social supports including medical services. The insecurity and anxiety inflicted on children who have to switch schools. If a grandparent babysits sometimes, or a group of friends spell each other off with the children . . . All these things make it difficult and costly in time and money to uproot yourself and go elsewhere.

It is important to note however that, at least in the case of those directly displaced by LRT, individuals are not simply being shoved aside by the LRT programmers and left to fend for themselves in a brutal housing market. No, no. They are in receipt of a lot of hand holding and even some hard cash, as Councillor Farr attempted to make “crystal clear” during the questions period that followed LRT Director Jacobson’s December 4 progress report.  The councillor was keen to get on the record an account of the good work being done for the displaced, and solicited the following testimony from Jacobson and LRT “community engagement” head David Derbyshire. It has been transcribed from the video record of the meeting. (The video can be viewed here. Farr’s contributions start around 8:00)

FARR: … you know, you’ve presented here I think the top story of the day. 15 residential properties to date. 55 residential units. 40 occupied 15 unoccupied. 66 people requiring support. 43 people accommodated to date. . . and this stood out for me, that each and every one of those individuals, and being relocated and some have probably lived along the corridor for a long, long time, is hard enough. But each and every one is living in conditions better than they were before we arrived. That is, I’ve known personally that is important to you, to you, to your team, to Metrolinx. But to be able to state that here publicly to me is the top story of the day. Through you chair, how were you able to accomplish that?

JACOBSON: If there’s one thing we’re proud of so far, it’s our ability to accommodate those people whose homes we’re affecting. You know, we have a great tenant support structure, a great tenant support team. David Derbyshire is here. He’s in the back. David leads not just our community engagement process through the Community Connectors but is also our point person when it comes to tenant supports. So, you know, David and his team work one-on-one with every individual that we affect. . . And it’s not always easy. It takes some time. But, you know, we feel it’s incredibly important that we ensure that the people that we relocate as part of this project are put into a better situation than where they’re coming from. . .  We hope that we can achieve that. So far, we have and I’m happy to report that. But really, it goes back to the team that we have and the passion that they have for just helping people.

FARR:  . . . David do you see any roadblocks or issues with maintaining this impeccable record going down the road, knowing that there will be more displacements happening? . . .

DERBYSHIRE: Wow. What a question. Yes there are roadblocks. Yes there are barriers. The reality is our city’s rental market is skyrocketing. We are having to assist folks in finding accommodations that they can be comfortable with—in, that they would be proud to move into. So the reality is, what they’re paying now doesn’t equal what they’ll be paying in the future. Our partners at Metrolinx have enabled us to do some very creative things to help our tenants. And they are our tenants. We take that responsibility. We meet with them individually and really get a sense of what their needs are, what their limits are, and help them find something that is going to be sustainable for them long term. This isn’t just a quick fix, we’ll do something that will cover them for a couple of months and then good luck in the future. We make sure that what they’re moving into is going to be sustainable for them long-term.”

FARR: . . . Real estate and rents – this has been an issue . . .  this has been a problem for three, four years now where the rents have gone up in conjunction with the assessments. So obviously you had to deal with that issue with these 43 people accommodated to date and 66 people requiring support. What you said, Metrolinx did some creative things. What creative things did they do to accommodate the needs, the limits, and the sustainability over long periods of time that you included in your answer? . . .

DERBYSHIRE:  One of the first things that we did is we individualized this to every tenant and their previous situation. We didn’t apply a blanket strategy to address everyone on the corridor. What we did is we met with the individuals, helped them recognize what their current situation was, what their—where they stood, and then helped them find the best possible solutions for their situation.

JACOBSON:  So through the chair, if I can add to that as well, some of the additional supports, and David might be able to speak to this in greater detail than I can but, you know, some rent supplementation, moving expenses, assisting them with utility hookups, and, you know, working them through difficult application processes. You know, there’s a number of supports that we do provide. I don’t know David if there’s anything additional you’d like to add.

DERBYSHIRE: Even as much as helping them with tenant insurance. The real estate market out there for rental accommodation has changed dramatically in the last five years. A lot of prospective tenants face the reality of having to go through elaborate application processes, through property managers, never get a chance to meet with the actual landlord themselves. So we assist them in navigating these processes that have been put in place. We make sure that at the end of the day they are comfortable with whatever, whatever they are able to find. And again, we assist them in finding these locations. . .  We help them find alternatives, examine those alternatives, and decide which one will best meet their needs. Sometimes they have a choice. Often times they don’t. You know, they are only acceptable in certain locations.

FARR: Right. Excellent. So, to be clear though, because you did mention that we’re in a great peak in terms of higher rents that we haven’t seen ever. And then . . .  one of the . . . creative things that David Derbyshire mentions is “rent supps” so I want to be crystal clear here today. Through you chair to Kris, we’re not taking Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a couple who’ve been living near the corner of King and Sherman for 20 years paying $685 a month in rent, and putting them in a unit where they’re now paying $1,265. And if it is a $1,265 unit, that rent supp is covering the difference? So they’re paying what they’ve traditionally paid?

DERBYSHIRE: You must have spoken to Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Yes, we attempt to do that. . .  What we also do though, we make sure that we don’t put people in over their head. So if they do agree to move into a $1,200 unit after previously living in a $600 unit, we make crystal clear what their plan is beyond the length of our subsidy. Metrolinx can’t afford to subsidize families forever. There’s a limit. There’s a timeline on what that subsidy will be. And again, it’s individualized for the family. . .  So we make sure that when the subsidy is over the family, the individual has a strategy for continuing to be able to pay that rent. So it might be “Well, you know, my boyfriend is going to be moving in with me in six months so when that happens, I will be able to—or we will be able to cover the additional rent ourselves.” That’s just one example of a strategy that they would have put in place. Or “My daughter is moving in with me and she will assist with the rent moving forward.”

FARR: That’s good. Thank you.

It remains only to add the councillor’s enthusiastic tribute to presumed LRT-induced development.

FARR: For proponents and supporters, right from the get go. Myself, others around this table. I think the excitement is really beginning to build. . .  The private investment that’s going on, I mean, we’re safely well over a billion and a half in LRT supportive development, in the core mostly but I think in other spots. And I’ve just had two meetings last week with two mid-size, straight to site plan developments by two LRT supportive developers. One is done sales and ready for demolition at Kiwi in International Village, as you know. I always say I think that is going to be the most coveted piece of real estate once this is all through. . .  And one right beside it at Jarvis Street, there’s a great deal of interest in the old TiCat office there. So I see this all the time. . .

This should make it all as “crystal clear” as the councillor could wish.

However, to avoid any possible misunderstanding whatever, here is the succinct and precise definition of the LRT project that Councillor John-Paul Danko recently provided to the Spec (“Province says task force to consider highways for Hamilton”, Hamilton Spectator, Jan 2, 2020).

DANKO: At its core, LRT is an economic development investment designed to reduce residential property taxes city-wide through new high-density urban and commercial development along the LRT corridor.

We might add the corollary, that the interests of the residents of East Central Hamilton are to be sacrificed to those of home owners in the rest of the city. Those who have the least must have still less in order to benefit the rest.

The IBI report (pg. 52) put it like this:

Unless the City chooses to increase property taxes to reflect new service provision, it will not realize additional tax revenue from changes in property values due to the LRT system. A redistribution of the tax burden may occur, with owners of lands near the new LRT line paying higher taxes due to an increase in property assessment. This in turn would result in a decrease in property taxes charged for other land owners.

However,

Changes to the City’s tax base resulting from increased assessments following redevelopment and growth could generate new property tax revenue . . . the 455 parcels of vacant land within the study area currently have very low assessment values and as such generate little tax income for the City.

Here is the potential residential capacity of the corridor.

Theoretical Capacity for New Residential Development within the LRT B-Line Study Area
Source: IBI Group based on City of Hamilton Vacant Land Inventory Data and Windshield Survey

	Land Area	Population		Housing Units
		Low	High	Low	High
Development of Vacant Residential Land	81 ha	8,500	14,625	3,400	5,850
Development of Vacant Non-Residential Land	10% of vacant non-residential land (i.e. 16 ha)	630	2,200	252	880
Intensification/Redevelopment (e.g. surface parking lots and underutilized lands)	18 ha	540	3,640	216	1,465
Total Estimated Residential Development Capacity	139	9,670	20,486	3,868	8,186

In addition, there are another 156 hectares of non-residential land that could be brought into use. Certainly in the ten years since these estimates were made, things have changed, but the numbers suffice to give a notion of the scale of redevelopment that is envisaged in the corridor.

Of course, this is just what LRT supporters have been saying all along, with little effect on their opponents, who generally fall into three camps: those who have been put out of their homes by the project, or fear, quite rightly, that they are next to go; those who insist on evaluating the thing primarily as a transportation project, no matter how often they are corrected; and those who believe that LRT operating costs will raise their taxes, when council has demonstrated that they are far more likely  to drain funds from the rest of the HSR system to service LRT than increase taxes to cover both should the need arise. Finally, there is a fourth, much smaller group of people whose public figures are  Councillors Clark, Collins and Whitehead, and Liberal backroom boy turned mayoral candidate Vito Sgro, who are either opportunists working a wedge issue or playing a deeper game, it’s not clear which.

Although the provincial Growth Plan would likely be well served by the intensification proposed for the LRT corridor, owners of land outside or near the current urban boundary might prefer that the transportation system be rejigged to point in that direction. However, Waterdown and Elfrida are almost fully built out, as long as the Growth Plan boundaries hold, and it is impossible to imagine the eventual residents of the greenbelt lands (Elfrida, Twenty Road East and Twenty Road West, 1,760 hectares in total) getting out of their cars and onto a bus. It will be interesting to see how Clark, Collins and Whitehead respond to the highway proposals which the Conservatives are wanting to include in the LRT substitute that is being formulated. The Ford Government’s No-LRT plan is likely to be a whole lot of highway and not much public transit, which will ultimately compound both our infrastructure deficit and our difficulties in meeting our climate change obligations.

The LRT cancellation was abrupt, but we have been here before. Historian Margaret Rockwell has written in detail about earlier episodes of planning policies imposed to realize large scale reconfigurations of the city that did not go as expected. In the second part of this piece, we’ll see if there is anything to be learned from the earlier episode, and make the argument for a non-market solution to the housing problems.

This article is the first in a three part series. Read Part Two (“Urban Renewal Then and Now”) here and Part Three (“Planning Hamilton for Who?”) here.

For Immediate Release: Notice of Press Conference
Wednesday, January 15, 2020, 10am
CUPE 5167 Hall (818 King St E)
Hamilton, Ontario

Press Conference: Tenants Demand Metrolinx Rehouse Evicted Tenants In Vacant Apartments & Preserve Purchased Properties for Affordable Housing

Lost in the conversation about the cancellation of Hamilton’s Light Rail Transit (LRT), is the plight of 80+ tenant households which were pushed out of their homes by Metrolinx, now for no reason at all. 60 buildings were purchased by Metrolinx before LRT cancellation, planned for demolition in order to accommodate road widening and LRT stations. King Street Tenants United has counted 102 rental units in these buildings and estimates that 87 of these units are currently vacant. (The full results of this survey are now available here.) With an apartment vacancy rate of 3.1% in Hamilton (source), 300+ homeless (source), 16,000+ on the affordable housing waiting list (source), and tens of thousands of Hamilton renters struggling as rents jumped 24% in the last year (source), it is unconscionable that apartments sit empty on King Street.

In reports to City Council and interviews with journalists, Metrolinx and City of Hamilton staff have downplayed the number of tenants affected and boasted about their “unique, ‘Made in Hamilton’” tenant eviction program they claim “has resulted in a high number of positive interactions with tenants” (source). In reality, many tenants have been treated terribly. It has been documented that tenants displaced from 832 King St E, a large, mid-rise apartment building and one of the first buildings bought by Metrolinx, received as little as $200 towards moving expenses or nothing at all (source). Since King Street Tenants United began holding tenant meetings over a year ago, the standard lease termination package from Metrolinx increased to include a twelve-month rent supplement (the difference between current and future rent). For many tenants, this supplement will soon expire and, facing a rent increase of hundreds of dollars monthly, it will only be a matter of time before many tenants are economically evicted. 

Tenants’ Demands

King Street Tenants United will present the following demands of Metrolinx and the City of Hamilton at this press conference: 

1. Metrolinx provide all properties purchased for LRT to the City of Hamilton to be preserved as affordable housing. 
2. Buildings be promptly rehabilitated and tenants evicted by Metrolinx be given the first opportunity to move into these units, back into their homes and neighbourhoods. 
3. Tenants who currently have Metrolinx as their landlord be given written assurance that they will be able to continue to live in these units without facing rent increases or pressure to leave, either by Metrolinx or a new landlord. 
4. Tenants have reported that landlords of buildings who had been told that Metrolinx would purchase are neglecting maintenance. City of Hamilton Property Standards Department should immediately inspect all units on the Metrolinx purchase list, with the tenants’ permission, and enforce repairs. 

Potential Legal Action Against Metrolinx

King Street Tenants United is also reviewing the potential for a class action lawsuit against Metrolinx. Our message to the 80+ tenant households evicted by Metrolinx, and anyone who remains on King Street with Metrolinx as their landlord: Contact us to join the fight for compensation and the right to return to vacant units. Tenants can email KingStreetTenantsUnited@riseup.net or call 289-659-0281. 

Quote from Affected Tenant

“All I’m hearing is people being like ‘Yay, it’s not being built!’ or people being like ‘Oh no, this is horrible! it’s not being built!’ but no one is talking about all of the people that have been uprooted [for the LRT]….People were moving into places that were a lot more money than the place they lived in. [Metrolinx provided me] compensation for a year, and that year is coming to an end. I imagine that most people, once those [rent] subsidies run out, are now thinking ‘Well, what am I going to do now?’. I’ve now been living in this new place for about a year and don’t want to leave again. But if I can’t afford to stay here, it’s going to come out of something else. Like I’m either going to have to work more, or spend less money on food and other necessities, or get a roommate, or something. It’s just not a sustainable thing. And it’s not like affordable housing is readily available. You’re kind of stuck…I go by my building all the time now and I see it all boarded up. It just seems crazy to me that there’s a perfectly good building with five units in it that just sits empty while there’s lots of people in this city that are having a hard time affording housing or finding housing.” 
– Vanja, tenant evicted and displaced from her home on King Street by Metrolinx

About King Street Tenants United

King Street Tenants United is a volunteer grassroots group of tenants and their supporters. It includes tenants who have been displaced from their homes on King Street to other parts of the city by Metrolinx; tenants who remain living on King Street with Metrolinx as their landlord; tenants whose buildings were planned for purchase by Metrolinx; and other tenants from the neighbourhoods near the planned LRT route who fear displacement pressure from LRT-driven gentrification.

Contact

Email: kingstreettenantsunited@riseup.net
Phone: 289-659-0281
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kingstreettenantsunited
Twitter: www.twitter.com/kingsttenants

Walking down King Street feels like walking through a ghost town. Metrolinx has cancelled the transit project, but remains the owner and landlord of 60 properties, concentrated in Ward 3 on King St E between Wellington and Ottawa. Dozens of houses, apartment buildings, and businesses have been vacated and boarded up. Tenants have been evicted from their homes, children transferred to different schools, people taken away from their friends and social supports. For those who remain, the neighbourhood feels empty, eerie, too quiet – almost like living in the aftermath of a bomb. We feel the loss of our neighbours, displaced to different corners of the city.

As part of our Survey of Displacement for Light Rail Transit (LRT), we took photographs and gathered data on properties planned for purchase and demolition. We worked from the demolition list provided in the 2017 Hamilton LRT Environmental Project Report, but supplemented this by walking the length of the route, photographing each affected property, carefully counting mailboxes and hydro metres, and talking with residents and business owners. The full data set is available in a Google Sheet here and the results of the survey are summarized here.

While our estimates exceed the counts reported by Metrolinx staff, we nevertheless underestimate the true numbers. We know that Metrolinx has altered construction plans in sections of the route and added buildings to their demolition list. (The original demolition list published in 2017 included 56 properties, but as of 2019 Metrolinx said they would need to demolish 90 properties.) We call on Metrolinx to publish an up-to-date list of all properties acquired for the LRT project, with a full accounting of the number of residential and commercial units at each property.

If you are a current or former resident or business owner of one of these properties, please contact us at kingstreettenantsunited@riseup.net. We welcome your input and any information you’d like to add.

Thanks to King Street Tenants United member Taras for these photographs.

Many Hamiltonians didn’t realize that property acquisition, eviction, displacement, and demolition were part of Light Rail Transit (LRT) construction. If they knew the truth about the number of properties purchased, the number of people who lost their homes, and how poorly people were treated during the eviction process, they would be shocked.

Metrolinx and City of Hamilton staff have downplayed the scale of displacement in interviews with journalists and reports to city council. Based on what we have seen on the ground and heard from our neighbours, we believe the official numbers are misleading and far underestimate the actual scale of displacement. We decided to conduct our own survey to try to get at the truth.

Some brief background information

In order to build the LRT, Metrolinx planned to purchase nearly 400 properties along the route from McMaster University to Eastgate Square, including portions of Main Street West, King Street West, King Street East, Main Street East and Queenston Road. This includes approximately 300 ‘partial property’ purchases and 90 ‘full property’ purchases. Partial property purchases are typically “a few metres or less” shaved off the front of the property in order to widen the road. Full property purchases are located near LRT stops in order to accommodate station platforms and vehicle turning lanes. Full property purchases result in the displacement of current occupants and demolition of buildings. The majority of ‘full properties’ planned for purchase and demolition are located in Ward 3 – by our count, 79% of all properties.

In May 2015, Kathleen Wynne’s provincial Liberals gave the project the green light and committed $1 billion in funding. In April 2017, Hamilton city council approved the updated Hamilton LRT Environmental Project Report, which details the route, location of station stops, and list of properties required for acquisition. Metrolinx’s Property Acquisition Unit began buying properties in May 2017. As of May 2018, they had bought 22 properties. In June 2018, following Doug Ford’s election and funding freeze, the LRT project was in jeopardy and property purchases were paused. The Ford government later committed to build the LRT in the April 2019 provincial budget and in May 2019 property acquisition resumed. As of December 4, 2019, Metrolinx had spent approximately $80 million on property acquisition and purchased 60 full properties – two thirds of the 90 properties required. Demolitions were originally scheduled to begin in the summer and fall of 2019, but then postponed until spring 2020. On December 16, 2019, Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney announced the LRT project was cancelled. Plans for demolition and any future property acquisition stopped.

In their most recent report to Hamilton city council (December 4, 2019), City staff provide the following numbers:

• Of the 90 ‘full property purchases’ on the Metrolinx demolition list, 60 are residential properties and only 30 are occupied by residential tenants.
• Of the 60 properties purchased to date, 15 are residential properties.
• The 15 residential properties purchased to date contain 55 residential units.
• Of the 55 residential units, 40 units were occupied and 15 units were vacant at the time of purchase by Metrolinx.
• Through these purchases, Metrolinx encountered 66 individual tenants “requiring support” and 43 of these 66 individuals have been “successfully accommodated” (displaced) to date.
• Had LRT gone ahead, staff reported that an additional 15 residential properties would be purchased. Staff predicted: “The total number of people [individual tenants] requiring support through our project will probably be in the 100-range…We’re at 66 now.”

We suspect these numbers are misleading and far underestimate the true scale of displacement. For example, one of the first buildings purchased by Metrolinx, a mid-rise apartment building at King Street East and Holton Avenue South, contains 27 rental units alone.

SURVEY METHODS AND DATA

We have conducted our own survey and arrived at different results. We worked from the demolition list provided in the Hamilton LRT Environmental Project Report, but supplemented this by walking the length of the route, photographing each affected property, carefully counting mailboxes and hydro metres, and talking with residents and business owners.

• The most recent demolition list made publicly available by the City of Hamilton and Metrolinx can be found in the 2017 Hamilton LRT Environmental Project Report, accessible here [PDF]. We call on Metrolinx to publish an up-to-date list of all properties acquired for the LRT project, with a full accounting of the number of residential and commercial units at each property.
• Our full dataset and calculations are accessible here [Google Sheet]. Tab 1 shows the data. Tab 2 shows the analysis.
• Each property included in our survey is listed here [blog post] with a picture and accompanying description.

While our estimates exceed the counts reported by Metrolinx staff, we nevertheless underestimate the true numbers. We know that Metrolinx has altered construction plans in sections of the route and added buildings to their demolition list. (The original demolition list published in 2017 included 56 properties, but as of 2019 Metrolinx said they would need to demolish 90 properties.) Furthermore, our survey focuses on those facing direct displacement for the LRT. We also realize that many more people (hundreds, if not thousands) have been indirectly displaced in neighbourhoods near the LRT as landlords, investors, and homebuyers cash in on increasing property values and rents due to LRT-driven gentrification. Metrolinx evictions are the tip of the iceberg.

SURVEY RESULTS

Figure 2: Map of All Properties Planned for Purchase & Demolition vs. Map of Properties Purchased Before LRT Cancellation

Figure 3: All Properties Planned for Purchase & Demolition vs. Properties Purchased Before LRT Cancellation, by Ward

The majority of impacted properties is located in Ward 3: Hamilton Centre (Councillor Nrinder Nann). This is the section of King Street between Wellington Street North and Ottawa Street North. We estimate a total of 69 properties were planned for purchase in Ward 3. We estimate 43 properties were purchased in Ward 3 before LRT cancellation.

Figure 4: All Properties Planned for Purchase & Demolition vs. Properties Purchased Before LRT Cancellation, by Property Type

We estimate Metrolinx purchased 19 out of the 34 commercial properties they planned to purchase before LRT was cancelled. We estimate Metrolinx purchased 37 out of the 53 residential or mixed-use properties they planned to purchase before LRT was cancelled.

Figure 5: All Units Planned for Purchase & Demolition vs. Units Purchased Before LRT Cancellation, by Unit Type

By our count, Metrolinx planned to purchase 72 commercial units and 180 residential units. Assuming these units were occupied, this suggests that 72 businesses and 180 households (including owners and tenants) were facing displacement for LRT. We estimate Metrolinx purchased 45 commercial units and 113 residential units before LRT cancellation.

Figure 6: All Residential Units Planned for Purchase & Demolition vs. Residential Units Purchased Before LRT Cancellation, by Tenure (Owner or Renter)

We estimate the 180 residential units on Metrolinx’s acquisition list included 12 owned homes and 168 rented homes. Assuming these units were occupied, this suggest 12 homeowner households and 168 tenant households were facing displacement for the LRT. We estimate Metrolinx purchased 113 residential units before LRT cancellation, including 11 owned homes and 102 rental homes.

Figure 7: Estimated Number of Tenant Households, Homeowner Households, and Businesses Displaced by Metrolinx Before LRT Cancellation

Figure 8: Estimated Monthly Rent Increase Faced by Tenant Household Displaced from Apartment by Metrolinx, by Length of Tenancy

Tenants pushed out of their homes by Metrolinx likely have to pay hundreds of dollars more per month in rent at their new apartments, compared to what they paid when living on King Street. For lower-income tenants, especially tenants on fixed incomes through their pensions or social assistance, rent increases of this magnitude are difficult, if not impossible, to afford.

METROLINX vs. King Street Tenants United: HOW DO THE NUMBERS COMPARE?

Number of residential properties planned for acquisition
Metrolinx claims that, had LRT gone ahead, a total of 60 residential properties would need to be acquired. Our number in this case is lower: We counted 53 residential properties slated for purchase and demolition.

Number of residential properties purchased for LRT
Metrolinx claims only 15 residential properties have been purchased to date. Our survey counted 37.

Number of residential units planned for acquisition
Metrolinx has not provided the public with an estimate of the number of residential units affected by LRT property acquisitions. We estimate a total of 180 residential units would have been affected, including 12 owned homes and 168 rented homes.

Number of residential units purchased for LRT
Metrolinx reports that 55 residential units have been purchased to date. We estimate 113 residential units have been purchased to date, including 11 owned homes and 102 rented homes.

Total number of tenants who were facing displacement for LRT
Metrolinx reports that the number of individual tenants facing displacement for LRT “will probably be in the 100-range” (Kris Jacobson to Hamilton City Council General Issues Committee, December 4, 2019). We estimate 168 tenant households were facing displacement, but cannot know how many individuals this number translates into. This assumes that all apartments were occupied by tenants when purchased by Metrolinx.

Number of tenant households displaced already
Metrolinx reports that 43 individual tenants have been “successfully accommodated” (displaced) to date and 23 individual tenants remain living on King Street with Metrolinx as their landlord. By our count, 87 Metrolinx-owned rental units are currently sitting vacant, suggesting 87 tenant households have been displaced. We cannot know how many individuals this number translates into. But even if we assume one person per household, this suggests less than half of all tenants displaced were supported by Metrolinx in securing new housing. Many tenants displaced for LRT likely received nothing from Metrolinx.

Metrolinx reports that of the 55 residential units they purchased, 40 units were occupied and 15 units were vacant at the time of purchase. Given that Hamilton has an apartment vacancy rate of 3.1% (CMHC 2018 Hamilton CMA Rental Market Report), it’s hard to believe that 27.3% of apartments purchased by Metrolinx had been sitting vacant for a long time prior to purchase. We know that many landlords sent letters to their tenants, telling tenants they needed to leave as Metrolinx would shortly be buying the building. These letters were not legal, but many tenants got scared upon reading and left. Some landlords, knowing that Metrolinx would shortly be buying the buildings, began slacking on maintenance and refused to put money into the buildings. This made living conditions unbearable for tenants and some became so frustrated they left before Metrolinx took over. In this way, individual landlords undertook the dirty work of pushing tenants out in order to deliver a vacant building to Metrolinx, letting Metrolinx off the hook to compensate and rehouse people. Vacant possession is often stipulated in agreements of purchase and sale for real estate transactions, or communicated informally (“I’ll give you $20,000 extra for the building if you hand it over empty”).

---

CONCLUSION

Metrolinx and City of Hamilton staff appear to have misrepresented and de-emphasized the scale of tenant displacement for LRT, downplaying the significant financial and emotional hardship endured by many who have been uprooted from their homes and communities for a train that was never built. Numbers matter because they help us build our case for properties to be preserved as affordable housing and for every single household displaced from King Street for the LRT (before or after Metrolinx became formally involved) be allowed to return to their homes. We call on Metrolinx to publish an up-to-date list of all properties acquired for the LRT project, with a full accounting of the number of residential and commercial units at each property.

---

If you are a current or former resident or business owner of one of these properties, please contact us at kingstreettenantsunited@riseup.net. We welcome your input and any information you’d like to add.

We are reprinting this article written by an anonymous King Street Tenants United supporter, originally published to North Shore Counter Info on December 19, 2019.

Working class Hamilton families breathed a collective sigh of relief Monday afternoon, when the Province announced they were killing the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project.  After 10+ years of living in the shadow of the Hamilton renaissance monster, with the housing walls closing in, this is the best holiday news many have heard in over a decade.

Hamilton has been wracking up some seriously shitty stats the last while.  In 2016, the CMHC named Hamilton one of 4 ‘red-flag’ cities with “dangerously overvalued” property, as ECDEV forced our way aboard Toronto’s SS Titanic housing bubble. This year we landed on the list of Top 10 most unaffordable cities for minimum wage workers (folks now working 55-60+ hours/week to afford a basic apartment).  And for the shit cherry on top of this hot shit sundae: we took the top prize this year for the highest one-year rent increase in all of Canada, at 24%.

So when the announcement came that Metrolinx’s LRT project – the engine that’s been driving this community-wrecking shitmobile – was being shelved?  The joy was impossible to contain.  The joy overfloweth.  It was a Christmas fucking miracle.  And many of us have spent the past 4 days in a dizzy bacchanal, drunk on the tears of realtors, developers and the new urbanist toadies that were all too happy to sacrifice thousands of their fellow Hamiltonians at the altar of ‘progress’ to see that 14 km stretch of fancy track laid.

For the folks being pushed to the wrong side of those socio-economic tracks, everything about the LRT news is fucking GOLD!  Some immediate highlights include:

– Watching our city officials and booster-douches put aside their 28 billion litres of shit difference, to join together for some protest cosplay at the announcement.  What a spectacle!  Seeing them all yelling outside of an unlocked door that they’ve been asked not to open, like it was some impenetrable castle gate? HILARIOUS!

– 36 developments that were proposed along the King Street corridor are now in jeopardy?  HOORAY!  Let’s make it 136!

– 2+ billion in private investments are now at risk?  WOO HOO!  Let’s make that 5+ billion!

– Toronto transplants crying on social media, saying they are thinking of leaving the city over this news?  FUCK YEAH!  Please take all your friends and restauranteurs with you!  Don’t let the for sale sign smash you repeatedly in the fucking face on the way out!

– the entire cast of the #HamOnt Twitterati ‘progressive’ fuck-weasel feed crying for the economic wellbeing of predatory fuck-vultures like Red Brick, Malleum, Ambitious, Urbanicity etc?  YES YES YES!   Barkeep! another round of tears for me and my pals!

GOLD.  This entire LRT death dance has been holiday fucking gold!

And how about all that hot critical analysis that followed?  Hoo boy. One of my faves has to be all the folks crying foul about Ford inflating values and using future costs to push his LRT-killing agenda.  Acting like they’ve all spotted the 2^nd shooter from the grassy knoll.  “That’s not fair” they cry!  “He can’t do that” they cry!  “It’s not real math” they cry!  “He’s a liar” they cry!   Well ain’t that some shit.  And pretty fucking ironic considering THE ENTIRE HAMILTON RENAISSANCE IS BUILT ON SPECULATIVE FUTURE VALUES, TIED TO THE LRT PROJECT.  Speculation is, 100%, the new steel.  From the cost of property to the cost of burgers (sorry, I mean brgrs) – this entire city is priced by speculation.  Fixed for some as-yet-to-exist future Hamilton yuppie demographic; some influx of greasy craft-beer sipping, waxed-beard fuckfaces with bikes priced like cars.  The average present day Hamiltonian cannot afford to go out on the town.  The average present day Hamiltonian cannot afford to buy a home.  Why?  Because our city has been ripped from the hands of the present day average Hamiltonian and given to this future douche crowd, who are all riding in on the speculation around LRT.  It’s a lie!  It’s a sham!  It’s bad math!  It’s like what Ford did only, with serious, real-life, material consequences that are ruining tens of thousands of peoples’ lives.  What Ford did was unfair?  BOO-fucking-HOO. Welcome to the city of unfair. Looks good on ya.

We’ve also been hearing a lot of moaning about the $150+ million that has already been spent. Folks crying that we need to see the LRT through to completion cuz we’ve already come so far; dropped so many dollars already.  Right.  It’s like they got the green light to beat us to death but then, after breaking just one leg, a few fingers and some ribs they’ve been forced to stop.  And now they’re all standing over our injured body, demanding to finish the job.  Cool logic bro.  But, yeah, no thanks. We’re good.  You can stop there.

And betrayed!  BETRAYED!  Everyone keeps repeating that they feel betrayed.  Well, on behalf of the thousands of Hamiltonians staggering around with new steel daggers stuck in our backs, gushing blood everywhere, choosing between food and bills every month:  BOO-fucking-HOO.  If you want a masterclass in what actual betrayal looks like, visit any one of the thousands of rental units along the proposed LRT line and talk to the moms, grammas and kids that live there.  The folks that LRT betrayed from day fucking one.  The folks whose pile of bones this plan was being built on.  Ask them if they think shaving 14 minutes off their morning commute is worth the doubling or tripling of their rent.  Ask them how much better it is now, working menial shit jobs in this hip, new, super-cool, creative industry hub vs. working menial shit jobs in the old ‘Ontario armpit’ days, when Toronto hated us and everyone could afford to pay rent.  Check in with the hundreds of folks just one unpaid sick day away from living in the fucking ravine. Ask around and see if any of these folks give a single, solitary fuck about the LRT (spoiler alert – they don’t at all).  You’re feeling betrayed because your (dangerously overvalued) housing price might drop or your Danish traffic-dampening designs aren’t being implemented?  BOO-fucking-HOO.  Betrayal doesn’t even begin to describe how the LRT treated our city’s working class; the misery, tears, stress and pain that your fancy progress train has caused, for thousands of families. You’re feeling betrayed because a politician lied to you?  On behalf of the thousands of Hamiltonians that were being socially cleansed from the city to make way for your idyllic green happy train:  FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU.

After 10+ years and several billion in investment, those Code Red stats haven’t changed in the slightest.  The rents have doubled and tripled.  Hundreds of families have been displaced and thousands more are waiting for that other shoe to drop.  Home ownership is completely out of reach for all but the rich.  There are no better job prospects, no new pathways of upward social mobility.  Nothing has trickled down from the newfangled #HamOnt shit heap.  It is clear – the new Hamilton, and the LRT plan it rode in on, were never meant for working class people.  The plan was always meant for the owner class, their friends, and the rat-fucks that want to be them or win their favour.  LRT has always been a death sentence for the city’s poor and working class. LRT has always been a pile of classist shit.

And so we celebrate the news, and we send you our holiday cheer.

To all the developers, realtors, and speculators; to the owner class and their sycophants; to the vulture-fucks, weasel-fucks, rat-fucks and anyone else crying over the LRT cancellation:

We wish you a shitty Christmas, filled with 100s of millions in lost investments!

We hope the cancellation of LRT causes your home values to plummet!

We wish you (even just) 1/10^th of the misery and pain we’ve been enduring for LRT!

With holiday cheer, we raise a toast of 2-dollar tall can to your bursting property bubble!  May this LRT cancellation bring you ill health, misfortune and economic ruination!  May this be the first step in the collapse of your housing market and a death knell for everything ‘new steel’!

FUCK YOU!  FUCK YOU!  FUCK YOU!

HO HO HO!