Evictions in Toronto: Governance Challenges and the Need for Intergovernmental Cooperation

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the importance of increased cooperation among different levels of government and of governance structures that enhance intergovernmental coordination so that residents’ needs are effectively addressed. This paper uses residential evictions in Toronto as an example to show why municipalities need to have a seat at the provincial table. The paper explains how provincial policy helps shape the rental housing landscape. Municipalities, in turn, feel the impacts of tenancy laws and provincial policy decisions on evictions and bear the costs in the form of added demand for social services. In particular, although the residential eviction process is controlled by the Province, the City of Toronto experiences the effect of this governance arrangement in the form of a growing homeless population, an increased burden on the shelter system, rising housing instability, and disproportionate eviction impacts on low-income and racialized communities that have also been hardest hit by the pandemic. Municipalities can use their jurisdiction over the development approvals and permitting system to address specific local housing challenges and mitigate some of the effects of the evictions problem, but Canadian cities lack the authority to address the underlying structural issues. While municipalities have the power to develop and implement eviction prevention programs, they are relatively powerless to solve systemic drivers of evictions. That power lies at the provincial level. This gap impedes a municipality’s ability to meet eviction prevention goals. Since municipalities deal with the financial and social impacts of provincial policy decisions, they should be meaningfully included and engaged in the decision-making process. Formalizing bilateral provincial-municipal relations to enable regular meetings and collaborative governance would help address this gap.