Behind the Headlines: Over 1 Year of Organizing 

You may have seen it on the headline news or walked past posters on King Street. Or maybe you are a supporter who has come out to rallies and participated in phone zaps. 

But did you know that our neighbours on rent strike at 75 Spencer have been fighting this rent increase for over a year? 

Fighting a rent increase calls for working-class people in a building to communicate, make decisions, and take action together. This requires organizing, and organizing takes work. 

Back in January 2025, tenants at 75 Spencer received the rent increase notice. Two neighbours, Fazal and Amanat, decided to organize. They called a meeting in the building lobby. Dozens of tenants turned out. They agreed on the following points:

• Parkdale tenants can’t afford to pay a 5.4 per cent increase
  
• If tenants accept this above guideline rent increase (AGI), the landlord will do it again
  
• The AGI is for the recent lobby renovation. Tenants should not have to pay for that

• In the past, Parkdale tenants have beat AGIs when they refused to give in to landlords and the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB)
  
• The organizing must start now, before the LTB approves the AGI

Tenants went door to door collecting signatures on a single demand: withdraw the AGI now. Some organizers covered their own floors. Others got signatures from tenants who speak the same first language. A large majority of neighbours signed on. 

Next, they planned to deliver the demand to the landlord as a group. On a Wednesday morning, Fazal and Amanat were joined by Mahmoud, Huong, Gloria, Melanie and others. They carpooled downtown to the landlord’s head office. Tenants refused to leave the office until the landlord agreed to set up a meeting to discuss their concerns. 

That meeting never happened. Tenants went back and confronted the landlord again. They were told to wait for the LTB hearing. With the landlord unwilling to meet their demand, tenants decided to escalate.

To escalate, more tenants had to become confident and committed. To achieve this, organizing had to become a daily activity. In the lead up to March 1, frequent one-on-one conversations, small group discussions, door knocking, and lobby meetings gave neighbours the confidence to go on rent strike. 

When March 1 rolled around, tenants were ready. They hung banners, spoke to the media, and visited the homes of their landlords to increase the pressure. They stood firm when the landlord sent eviction notices. They didn’t bend when the landlord had Toronto police come pound on their apartment doors. And they have received for their steadfastness the support of other Parkdale tenants and from the educators who teach their children in our neighbourhood schools. 

The ongoing rent strike at 75 Spencer didn’t come out of nowhere. The rent strike is the result of over a year’s hard work by dozens of individual working-class people. Most importantly, the rent strike is part of a living tradition of working-class organizing in Parkdale.