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we are in 2025 and covid has not disappeared and 17 paton road is still empty.
after being thrown out of 17 paton road in 2020, i moved 3 times, i couch surfed in the homes of 3 friends
and subletted a one bedroom while renting another one where i could not stay. heavy noise overload 24/7.
compensation for that came in 2024. now i am out of toronto but there seems to be no safe home anymore and tinnitus and other health problems pile up while facing an inverted cultural shock in a country where i have priviledges, try to acknowledge them and use them for social justice. but. wow. i am failing. hard conversations happen. heart breaks too. meditate. accept the trauma. fighting for housing is much easier when done as a community. the 17 paton road tenants held together for quite a while after 2020. we went through a long Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) process. we won 2 major rulings but then, the majority of tenants decided they wanted to settle for money instead of going through the last phasse of the LTB process and possibly win that 17 paton would be renovated and re-rented to us at our previous rents. dreamland for me. not for the others. i feel ashamed towards all artists and low/no-income people in toronto for whom housing is a major worry. |
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