Tenants’ advocates decry proposal to privatize evictions

Tenants’ rights advocates are concerned Ontario might privatize the enforcement of eviction orders, introducing a “U.S.-style” system where profits trump the wellbeing of low-income residents who fall behind on the rent.

Currently, government officers in the “civil enforcement service” carry out eviction orders from the Landlord and Tenant Board, and impose court orders to seize property from people in debt, among other duties. The Ministry of the Attorney General issued a notice in January that it is mulling whether to privatize the enforcement service.

“The main thing that we want is for evictions to be motivated by the law, motivated by some kind of process,” said Geordie Dent, executive director of the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations. “We don’t want the for-profit motive to be a driving force. We think that would open up a can of worms and be disastrous.”

The province has two options on the table: create a quasi-independent, not-for-profit corporation to carry out this service, or approve a list of private contractors to enforce civil orders.

Under the first model, a private corporation called a “delegated administrative authority” (DAA) would hire and train enforcement officers according to rules drawn up in new government legislation, Brendan Crawley, spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General, said in an email. The province would set fees, the enforcement rules, and the composition of the corporation’s board of directors.

Under the private-contractor option, the province would be responsible for training standards and investigating public complaints, while employees of various companies would handle seizures, evictions and other services.

The goal is to give court and tribunal “clients” — landlords and people who are awarded financial compensation in court, for instance — more options to enforce these orders, and to speed up the service process, Crawley said.

“Both models ensure that the government retains overall accountability and control,” he said.

Ibrahim Bozai, executive board member for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, called the government’s private-contractor model “a very dangerous idea” that amounts to “U.S.-style” privatization. Aside from the roughly 60 enforcement officers and supporting staff who could lose their jobs if the service gets contracted out, Bozai said a private system could harm tenants and debtors — especially if the government opts for the private contractor model.

He worried that contractors could charge a premium to speedily enforce an eviction notice, and that the imperative to maximize profits would reduce the likelihood that officers would prioritize the wellbeing of evicted tenants. If they are competing with other companies for contracts and rushing between jobs, for example, they may overlook an evicted tenant’s need to be referred to shelters or services like children’s aid, he said.

More than 84,000 eviction applications were made in Ontario during the 2013-14 fiscal year, and 71 per cent of those were filed by landlords for non-payment of rent.

“It means that people who are ultimately unaccountable to the public will be part of the justice system, and that never works,” said Bozai, arguing that if the province wants to improve service, it should hire more enforcement officers under the current regime.

The province is accepting public input on the proposals until Feb. 29.

Original Article
Source: thestar.com/
Author: Alex Ballingall