By Ben Emond
At the end of October, 2023, Smart Living Properties (I will call them “Smart Living” for short), who had bought not only my building but the entire block along Bank Street between Lisgar and Nepean Streets in the Fall of 2022, issued a termination of tenancy form (N13) to me and all of the other residential tenants on my block. Ever since that time, my life has been replete with unending stress.
After three decades of living in poverty, I finally, this past year, received an entry level term contract with the federal government. The same month, almost the same day, that I signed this contract, Smart Living notified me that they wish to demolish my building, by issuing the termination of tenancy form, thus immediately putting me back in a position of struggle.
My apartment, as well as those of 15 of my fellow tenants on this block (the two buildings who still have residential tenants are 227 Bank Street and 178 Nepean Street), is affordable and rent-controlled. Myself and the rest of the tenants have formed a tenants’ association called Bank Block Tenants to keep our affordable homes. Meanwhile, Smart Living plans to demolish the entire block and build a 9-storey building with around 263 units which will not be affordable. They will mostly be furnished bachelors and short-term rentals at expensive market rates.
There are a thousand things I could say about Smart Living’s immorality, greed, inhumanity, and exclusivity (instead of saving our homes, Tamer Abaza, CEO of Smart Living, is investing in Altea Active Ottawa, a high-priced gym and social club coming to Ottawa in the Fall of 2024). And there are a thousand things I could say about the City of Ottawa’s ineptitude, short-sightedness, and the uncompromising failure of provincial and federal governments to address the issue of affordable housing.
The fact that Canada perpetuates a system of housing commodification does not make that system morally just.
Instead, I will say just two things. Firstly, the government of Canada agreed to comply with the right to housing in accordance with international human rights law when it ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1976. Affordability is one of the standards that is supposed to be met by adhering to this International Covenant. Therefore, Canada is breaking its own promise to abide by international law by not ensuring that its citizens have access to affordable housing. Even worse, as in the BBT case, when affordable housing already exists, the federal government (nor any other level of government) is not acting to safeguard such housing. I don’t see it as far-fetched at all to charge Canada with breaking international human rights law in its countless failures to stop renovictions, demovictions, and to create more affordable housing.
Secondly, Smart Living’s CEO, Tamer Abaza, and COO, Rakan Abushaar, live in mansions in Rockcliffe Park, and I presume that they have families. If I could ever talk to them, which would be difficult if not impossible, since they have repeatedly refused to meet with our tenant association, I would ask them if they would ever want one of their sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers or fathers to become homeless from their business ventures. What would Tamer and Rakan say to their family members if they made them homeless? Maybe something like: “That’s capitalism. That’s how the market works. You invest in order to make as much profit as possible. You can go and find a home somewhere else.” But “Tamer and Rakan”, I would say back, “There is nowhere else. Your son, your daughter, your mother, your father, will have nowhere else to go. Just like the Bank Block Tenants. You may have a point, Tamer and Rakan, that might indeed be capitalism, but it’s definitely not right.”
If I ever have grandchildren, I will tell them that housing is not a commodity and should never be considered as such. It is morally wrong to profit from a human being’s need for shelter. The fact that Canada perpetuates a system of housing commodification does not make that system morally just. If Canada’s system were morally just, why would there even be a discussion about affordable housing in the first place? Why would there be housing co-operatives, subsidized housing, and not-for-profit organizations fighting for affordable housing?
If Tamer and Rakan ever have grandchildren, what will they tell them about housing? Will they tell them housing is a human right? Will they say that there is always someplace else a person can go to find housing? What if their grandchildren ask them why there are so many people living on the street?
Now for a final thought. I know, I said I had only two things to say, but that was a few paragraphs ago. How about someone ask us, the tenants who have built a community here, who have family and friends drop by, who go to eat nachos together, who have seen their kids grow up here, who have lived through dark times and tough times together, who support each other in times of sickness, what we would like to see here at Bank Block? I know one thing all of us would say: “how about a safe and affordable home to live in, surrounded by people who care about each other.” That’s a pretty good start. How about Smart Living starts with that. Well, if that fails, maybe there is room for all of us in Tamer and Rakan’s mansions.
Do you think we would be good housemates?
