On December 2 I joined NDP MPPs Chandra Pasma and Lise Vaugeois and the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly to reintroduce my bill to protect seniors’ rights in care homes. You can read the bill here.
The bill changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to provide more rent control protections for residents in care homes, restrict retirement home providers from imposing unlimited fee hikes for services on vulnerable seniors, and give senior residents three months’ rent compensation if they are evicted.
I first introduced this bill in 2021 after more than 100 seniors were evicted from Davenhill Senior Living at Yonge and Bloor. The work we did with these residents showed us that laws protecting seniors in retirement homes need to be strengthened.
Seniors deserve the same rights as any other tenant and should be entitled to compensation if they are evicted. They should also be protected from economic eviction caused by unfair price gouging, which happens when retirement homes dramatically increase the cost of providing basic services like meals well above the actual cost of providing it.