April Showers are coming down as I write this but May is promising to bloom  into another busy month at Island Park Towers. 

 

Busy enough that this email needs a table of contents: 

1. We had a successful membership drive in April with many new paid  members and renewals. Others added their names to our email list and the Facebook group continues to grow. Making sure we've removed those who have moved away is still a work in progress, one I wish AI could do for me, but I'm pleased to report that it looks as though we are connecting with almost half the apartments here at Island Park Towers. 

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2. Upcoming Events: All residents are welcome at all events whether or not they are on our email list. Share the news of events with neighbours who may not receive these emails. 

One time Events

Thursday May 2: Anti-fraud Seminar,  10:00 in the social room. 

As we move into the season of scam calls from the CRA (complete with warrants issued for our arrest...!) please attend the Anti-Fraud Seminar on May 2, at 10:30 in the social room. This will help give you tools to identify and protect yourself from these attempts to defraud you. They can be convincing and very expensive. 

While this seminar is aimed for seniors, I'll remind all residents that anyone can be hit by a fraud and to remind everyone to make sure their recovery email account is still active. I've helped out in two cases where a scam has locked someone out of their primary email account and the recovery email account no longer exists or they didn't remember the password for that account. That makes wrestling control of the email address (in order to stop the use of that email address for 'forgot password' resets on other accounts) a much slower, weeks-long process. 

This singalong evening is made up of songs by artists requested by residents who attended previous singalongs or made requests through the Facebook Group. 

Here's a Youtube link to the songs on the playset. A pdf of the lyrics will be available from the IPTRA.org website closer to the date of the singalong. 

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLakm_xImkQmfTN_LMczlQ_rKl7IXXl1UF

Regular Monthly Events: 

Wednesday May 1: Brown Bag lunch in the social room at 12p.m.

 

Thursday May 16: Pub night at Churchills on Richmond Road, starting at 4:30 p.m. Come for a drink or stay for dinner. 

Thursday May 23: Stuff Exchange from 2:30 to 7:30. (Location probably the social room but watch for an update, I'm thinking we may go rogue on this one and move it to the lobby of 200.) 

And our weekly activities: 

Meditation Mondays: 10 a.m. Social room

Tuesday Euchre (and other games at times): 2 p.m. in the social room

 

Workout Wednesdays: 3 p.m. in the social room 

3. Special announcement: Workout Wednesday Funding has been extended  indefinitely!

The original funding from Ottawa West Community Support was for 8 weeks. That has been extended indefinitely due to the success of this group (this regular attendee is noticing a distinct increase in mobility.)  We can handle up to 20 people so there is plenty of room for you if you'd like to check it out. 

Emily Gooding (https://www.emilygooding.com/) is a wonderful instructor. She also does free 'live' online classes available through her website (they require an email address to register for them.) And she has shared some of her YouTube videos if you can't come to class because you are away or if you want to do her exercises throughout the week. They are listed at the bottom of this email. 

4. Rent Increase Update: 

There is no news about a date for the hearing over the 2023/2024 Above Guideline Increase (AGI) to our rents.

Unfortunately, I've heard from a resident who moved into Island Park Towers in September of 2022, and they have just received notice of a second above guideline increase for the 2024/2025 year.  

In the past, the old owners treated IPT as a single entity and the AGI was spread over all units. Homestead has chosen to split the 3 buildings which will increase the amount of work tenants will have to do in order to fight the increases (we'll have to go through 3 separate applications, looking for false or misleading information justifying the increase.) 

For the 2023/24 year, tenants are facing between a 3.9% increase (at 200 Clearview) and 5.5% (at 185 Clearview.) 

Now, someone has received their N1 Notice of Rent Increase for the 2024/2025 year indicating that Homestead is applying for another AGI. 

The numbers will get confusing as the total increase depends on which building one is in and the month of the annual renewal. All existing tenants when Homestead bought IPT renew on January 1. But those who moved in after January 2022 will have lease renewals corresponding to the month they moved in. So folks within the same building may have different rent increase amounts.  

For the particular tenant who alerted me to their 2024/25 increase, they are facing 11% increase in rent over the 2 years, compared to just 5% if Homestead had not applied for Above Guideline Increases.  

We are still waiting for the 2023/24 AGI hearings to be scheduled by the Landlord Tenant Board. We now know that even after those hearings are done, we'll be headed back once again to deal with 2024/25 increases.  

So what is happening in response to this?

A tenant has come forward, hoping to work with others to fight this (not just for their building but hopefully with tenants across all 3 buildings) and is meeting with an outside tenant support group to learn more about the process. 

Movement is happening and a meeting will be announced within the next few weeks for anyone willing to attend.  The intention is that flyers will be passed around with details.

What is IPTRA doing?

The IPTRA does not do advocacy work, we are a social group focusing on building relationships between tenants to create a supportive and safer community.  

 

That said, because these rent increases are a threat to the sense of security a tenant has, the IPTRA is committed to help tenants who organize to fight the AGI. We will be sending out information on upcoming meetings, have approved organizing posts being made on the IPTRA Facebook group, and have offered the use of our tables and chairs if meetings are happening outside the social room. (Homestead cannot stop the organizing tenants from using either the lobbies or the social room for meetings.) The IPTRA board members are also sharing our previous experience with past AGIs and will connect those who have expressed interest in fighting the rent increases.

What can you do to learn more?

Aside from watching for signage of meetings, if you want to learn more about the AGI hearing process (which has changed since the last time IPT faced a hearing in 2018), there is an AGI Town Hall on Wednesday, May 1, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. hosted by Jessica Bell, a Toronto area MPP. 

Here's the link for more information and to sign up to attend virtually. 

https://www.jessicabellmpp.ca/agi_townhall

Note: You do not have to join any group to fight your rent increase, you may do so on your own. But joining in with others will make going over the documents a lighter task and give you a chance to share in the cost of legal advice. 

5. Revisiting the IPTRA mandate at our autumn Annual General Meeting (AGM)

IPTRA's AGM will be in October. This year we'll have a vote at the AGM on the mandate to remain solely a social group.

It is confusing for tenants to have two tenant organizations for one complex. The current provincial government has been attempting to tilt the playing field towards landlord power rather than keeping it level. And the legislation requires tenants to keep landlords accountable, there is no government agency that is overseeing landlords. 

As a result, tenants' rights groups strongly encourage rental communities to organize a tenants' association. 

Speaking for myself, I love my work with IPTRA and love what it has grown into over the past few years, but I have no interest or energy to add to my role the task of holding Homestead accountable to following the legislation.

On the other hand, there is a need for such work to be done and I do not want to stand in the way of that. It is up to the IPTRA members, not me, to annually review the mandate of the IPTRA, to ensure the group meets the needs of all residents of Island Park Towers.  

The task for you is to think about how you see the IPTRA and tenant organization work going forward in the future. Should it remain as it has, with a group of tenants joining forces when needed to do the hard work, and then dissipating and letting IPTRA focus on the fun stuff? Or should the group structure be changed to include the fun stuff as part of formal, permanent, tenants' association? 

I'm giving you lots of time to think on these questions as you watch the AGI process require an organized response from tenants. 

 

...Kathryn Holman

New for 2024, the board has decided that at the Annual General Meeting each year, the membership will vote on the question of whether set up a sub committee to respond to Landlord Tenant issues as a  proper Tenants' Association would. If that were the case, we'd invite the Tenant group to become part of IPTRA, as opposed to the current practice offering them support but having them work independently from IPTRA. As Daniel Stringer has pointed out, the Landlord Tenant Act expect tenants to organize and 'police' landlords who break the rules. So the government expect tenants to organize  

 

12 Minute Hip Mobility 

15 Minute Mobility for Neck, Elbows, Spine, and Wrists

3 Minute Lower Body Warm Up

2 Minute In-Bed Mobility 

3 Minute Standing Mobility Routine 

25 Minute Full Body Class

10 Minute Upper Body Mobility 

17 Minute Full Body Class