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The clangs of progress hammer loud and long across the street from Dalal Ayoob’s Sandalwood Crescent townhouse off of Heron Road, as cranes, trucks and workers move heavy building materials into place. When they’re finished, in June 2019, Timbercreek Communities, the developer, will cut the ribbon and open doors at its HG7 project — three six-storey apartment buildings that will boast nearly 350 units.
Ayoob may not be around to see the project’s completion, however. She received notice last week from Timbercreek that she and 104 of her neighbours have to be out of their houses by the end of September to make way for further progress. Ayoob and her husband currently pay about $1,300 a month on rent — a sizeable portion of the $1,900 they get through the Ontario Disability Support Program — so she’s resigned to the fact that, likely unable to afford Timbercreek’s new offerings, they’ll have to move away from the neighbourhood she’s called home since leaving Iraq a decade ago.
“It’s going to be very difficult,” she confesses. “Our son and daughter are helping us find a new house, but it’s very difficult, especially for old people. We’re used to living here.”
She says she’s looked at available homes online, but hasn’t found anything for less than $1,600 or $1,900.
On Thursday, about 50 people, including residents, local ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) activists and politicians gathered near Ayoob’s home to march to Timbercreek’s nearby offices to ask for at least a couple more months to find alternate housing.
ACORN representative and evictee Margaret Alluker entered the office while marchers waited outside and kept the struggle alive with chants of, “We’re tired, we’re hungry, we won’t go away. Stop the war on the poor, let the tenants stay.” After exiting the office, she said no one from Timbercreek would meet her to hear her concerns.
“They told us to contact the head office,” she said, promising to keep pushing.
(Timbercreek’s website, however, promises that “it takes more than bricks and mortar to make a community. It takes commitment — to our Residents. … Choosing a place to call home is a big commitment and we want to ensure you can call your Timbercreek community “A Great Place to Live”.)
A straw poll of some residents’ experiences suggested that those words and the company’s actions don’t always jibe. Sidewalks are pocked with pieces of asphalt and old paint chips off the houses.
Laddia Jean-Baptiste, who has already been looking for another place to move to, says her complaints of basement flooding and invading squirrels were met with indifference. Another Timbercreek resident, Lisa Brinston, holds out her cellphone to show pictures of a mouse she found in her bedroom dresser drawer. “I’ve had cockroaches and bad carpeting, too,” she adds.
ACORN activist and Heron Gate resident Margaret Alluker shouts chants at the front of Thursday’s march.
Alluker, meanwhile, has lived with her four children in the neighbourhood for four years, in both a highrise apartment and her current townhouse, where she’s been plagued with broken pipes, windows and doors, and unwanted mice. “And other tenants have told me of mould, broken windows, elevators not working … lots of issues. It’s my understanding the Timbercreek just cares about money, and not the people that live with them in this community.”
Among those marching in support Thursday were former CUPW head Jean-Claude Parrot, Ottawa South provincial NDP candidate Eleanor Fast, and current Liberal MPP John Fraser. Fraser grew up and raised his family in this same neighbourhood.
“In 1968, this was the model community,” he said. “What ACORN is asking for is reasonable and fair for the tenants. We brought in inclusionary zoning as a tool for cities. They’re asking for an extension, and I think that’s a reasonable thing to do. And they’re asking for affordable rent in the new places that are being built. And that’s reasonable.”
bdeachman@postmedia.com
查看原文...
Ayoob may not be around to see the project’s completion, however. She received notice last week from Timbercreek that she and 104 of her neighbours have to be out of their houses by the end of September to make way for further progress. Ayoob and her husband currently pay about $1,300 a month on rent — a sizeable portion of the $1,900 they get through the Ontario Disability Support Program — so she’s resigned to the fact that, likely unable to afford Timbercreek’s new offerings, they’ll have to move away from the neighbourhood she’s called home since leaving Iraq a decade ago.
“It’s going to be very difficult,” she confesses. “Our son and daughter are helping us find a new house, but it’s very difficult, especially for old people. We’re used to living here.”
She says she’s looked at available homes online, but hasn’t found anything for less than $1,600 or $1,900.
On Thursday, about 50 people, including residents, local ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) activists and politicians gathered near Ayoob’s home to march to Timbercreek’s nearby offices to ask for at least a couple more months to find alternate housing.
ACORN representative and evictee Margaret Alluker entered the office while marchers waited outside and kept the struggle alive with chants of, “We’re tired, we’re hungry, we won’t go away. Stop the war on the poor, let the tenants stay.” After exiting the office, she said no one from Timbercreek would meet her to hear her concerns.
“They told us to contact the head office,” she said, promising to keep pushing.
(Timbercreek’s website, however, promises that “it takes more than bricks and mortar to make a community. It takes commitment — to our Residents. … Choosing a place to call home is a big commitment and we want to ensure you can call your Timbercreek community “A Great Place to Live”.)
A straw poll of some residents’ experiences suggested that those words and the company’s actions don’t always jibe. Sidewalks are pocked with pieces of asphalt and old paint chips off the houses.
Laddia Jean-Baptiste, who has already been looking for another place to move to, says her complaints of basement flooding and invading squirrels were met with indifference. Another Timbercreek resident, Lisa Brinston, holds out her cellphone to show pictures of a mouse she found in her bedroom dresser drawer. “I’ve had cockroaches and bad carpeting, too,” she adds.
ACORN activist and Heron Gate resident Margaret Alluker shouts chants at the front of Thursday’s march.
Alluker, meanwhile, has lived with her four children in the neighbourhood for four years, in both a highrise apartment and her current townhouse, where she’s been plagued with broken pipes, windows and doors, and unwanted mice. “And other tenants have told me of mould, broken windows, elevators not working … lots of issues. It’s my understanding the Timbercreek just cares about money, and not the people that live with them in this community.”
Among those marching in support Thursday were former CUPW head Jean-Claude Parrot, Ottawa South provincial NDP candidate Eleanor Fast, and current Liberal MPP John Fraser. Fraser grew up and raised his family in this same neighbourhood.
“In 1968, this was the model community,” he said. “What ACORN is asking for is reasonable and fair for the tenants. We brought in inclusionary zoning as a tool for cities. They’re asking for an extension, and I think that’s a reasonable thing to do. And they’re asking for affordable rent in the new places that are being built. And that’s reasonable.”
bdeachman@postmedia.com
查看原文...
