Parkdale Rent Strike Campaign

Tenants in multiple MetCap buildings have been organizing for the last few months to fight rent increases and get repairs done in their units. MetCap has spent this time trying to ignore those tenants. It hasn’t been easy for MetCap to ignore the organizing going on in Parkdale and come May 1st it will be impossible.

At the end of March, tenants from across the neighbourhood showed up at MetCap’s head office downtown to demand that MetCap withdraw the rent increases and do the repairs in people’s units. MetCap hid in their offices for hours while our neighbours made the message loud and clear that tenants in Parkdale will no longer be ignored. MetCap refused to meet with their tenants. MetCap refused to take people’s repair requests. MetCap just hid in their offices and hoped Parkdale would leave them alone. In the lobby of the MetCap office tenants from Parkdale held a meeting and talked about what they should do to get MetCap to pay attention.

At a meeting back in Parkdale tenants decided what they would do: Metcap tenants in Parkdale would organize for a rent strike. MetCap only cares about money. We’ll see how much they care about losing a whole bunch of money. A large, well-organized rent strike sends a message to MetCap that Parkdale won’t be ignored or pushed around anymore. Playing nice with MetCap hasn’t worked; MetCap doesn’t play nice. The more people that join the rent strike, the louder the message will be. This isn’t just about a few repairs or a few rent increases. This about Parkdale coming together and saying enough is enough. We won’t be priced out of our neighbourhood. We won’t be mistreated by money-grubbing landlords. We will fight back. We will support each other. We will defend Parkdale.

For weeks now MetCap tenants have been knocking on doors, handing out flyers, talking in their lobbies, and meeting to plan for this rent strike. If you live in a MetCap building and care about the future of this neighbourhood you should join the rent strike. You should do that organizing too. Come together with your neighbours and make the decisions that really matter for this neighbourhood. Are you going to let MetCap keep pushing your neighbours out of Parkdale? No? Good, let’s get organized.

Join the rent strike.