 Here’s what you need to know to get the day started: | | | Landlords and tenants alike say times are tough as own-use evictions rise | | |  | Shari Keyes, left, and her daughter, Amanda Howell, say they can’t afford to move anywhere else nearby because rentals in her neighbourhood have become too expensive. (Ousama Farag/CBC) | | | In the midst of a national housing crisis, an increasing number of landlords say they need to repossess their rental properties and an increasing number of tenants are refusing to leave without a fight.
"The rents everywhere are so high we knew we couldn't afford anything else," said Shari Keyes, 56, who pays well below market rent in a Toronto low-rise and who battled her landlord for two years to keep it. "We had to fight because we've been worried about the possibility of homelessness this entire time."
The landlord filed N12 eviction applications with Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board, otherwise known as an own-use eviction, saying he needs to move family members into two units. He denies the eviction applications were in bad faith, but the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board ruled against him earlier this month, allowing Keyes to stay for now.
According to Landlord and Tenant Board data, applications for own-use evictions are up 85 per cent in Ontario since 2020, rising from 3,445 that year to 6,376 in 2023. The Landlord and Tenant Board handed out more than twice the number of fines for bad-faith evictions in 2023 compared to 2022, with 23 fines in 2023, compared to 11 the previous year.
"People are clinging to their homes with their fingernails like they are. They're desperately clawing to stay in their apartment, even if that apartment is terrible," said Karly Wilson, a housing lawyer at Don Valley Community Legal Services in Toronto. "I tell my tenants if they've been anywhere for more than five years, they have a target on their back."
But some small landlords and landlord advocates say this isn't the full story and that the issue is an increase in landlords actually needing their properties back, often because of higher interest rates. "If you have to pay $800 a month for your rental property, and then your mortgage needs to be renewed for your principal residence and you have to pay another $600 or $800 for that, you can't afford it," said Rose Marie, vice-chair of Small Ownership Landlords of Ontario (SOLO), a landlord advocacy group.
At a recent SOLO protest at Queen's Park in Toronto, several landlords protested the delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board in dealing with tenants fighting their N12 eviction notices. "I am a single mom, I cannot afford this, I have to move back into my house and I cannot," landlord Jessica Huang said through tears.
"I never hear a tenant advocate talk about the math. Never," Marie said.
Got a news tip or story idea? Contact us. | | | | | Smile for the camera | | |  | (Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images) | | | Krissy Scurfield of Canmore, Alta., tackles a New Zealand player during the women's pool A rugby sevens match between New Zealand and Canada during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday. The Canadian team split their first two games with a win against Fiji and a loss to New Zealand. Follow all of CBC's Olympic coverage here.
| | | | | | | | | In brief | | | About one-third of Jasper, Alta., was destroyed, officials estimate. The Municipality of Jasper released a map and list of addresses Saturday, showing which were affected by the wildfire that swept through the town last week. The information is preliminary, based only on what damage is openly visible, officials said, and further damage assessments are underway. Estimates are that 358 of 1,113 total structures in town were destroyed. All critical infrastructure was saved, officials have said, but Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said on her radio show that her staff needs to get inside the hospital to check for damage, because its roof was reportedly on fire. There were 129 wildfires burning in Alberta as of early this morning, according to the Alberta wildfire dashboard. Read more about the damage to Jasper here.
A shooting that wounded five in the historic Black community of Africville this weekend brought an end to this year's annual reunion in Halifax. "I'm furious. I'm hurt. I'm sad. I'm upset … In 40 years we've never had a problem and last night here was like a war zone," said Paula Grant-Smith, who lived in the community until she was 15 years old, and was camping with family and friends Saturday night at Africville Park. The reunion aims to bring together former residents and descendants from the community, which was uprooted in the 1960s when the City of Halifax demolished homes there and residents were displaced. Halifax Regional Police said Sunday that five people in attendance were shot Saturday night when two men exchanged gunfire and the bullets went into the crowd. One victim in their late teens is believed to have life-threatening injuries, police said. Read more about the shooting here.
A B.C. woman decided to live in an RV. Her village said no. Michele Hayman, 62, bought a used RV in 2023 when she found herself in need of a place to live after being evicted from her rental home, where she had lived for 10 years. A friend offered to let her park the RV on her property in the village of Valemount and got utilities hooked up. They even worked together to winterize the RV. Three years ago, the village implemented a policy allowing RVs to be used as temporary housing for up to four years, as Trans Mountain pipeline workers arrived on the scene looking for somewhere to stay. But the village repealed the policy in May this year. "I was very surprised because I was under the impression that there was still two years available, you know, to live under that bylaw," Hayman said. The village's chief administrative officer, Anne Yanciw, said the policy was repealed as Trans Mountain construction wrapped up and housing was no longer an issue. Read more about Hayman's plight here.
Bee bandits are a 'chronic problem' in Quebec, says a vice-president of Quebec's beekeeping association who finds herself 200,000 bees short. "Stealing a hive is like stealing a cow from a cattle farm.… My bees are very precious to me," said Maggie Lamothe-Boudreau, owner of Rayons de Miel, about 100 kilometres south of Quebec City. Last week, four hives disappeared overnight in what she suspects was an amateur hive heist. "It's kind of emotional because you never imagine you get something stolen from you," said Lamothe-Boudreau. "I love my bees. That's why I'm a beekeeper. My job is to take care of them, and in exchange, they give me honey." She says theft and vandalism have been affecting producers across the province for years, forcing some to invest thousands of dollars in cameras and other surveillance methods. Read more about the bee plot here.
Canada's Olympic drone controversy hasn't sunk the women's soccer team yet. Vanessa Gilles scored in the 12th minute of injury time to give Canada a stunning 2-1 comeback victory over France and life in the tournament. The result came a day after FIFA docked the squad six points — the equivalent of two wins — in the standings after a Canadian coaching analyst was caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand's practices. "We have zero points and we're very happy," said Canadian goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan. Canada has a chance to advance if it can get back to the three-point mark with a victory in another must-win game Wednesday against Colombia in Nice. "We're not cheaters, we're damn good players, we're a damn good team and we proved that today," Gilles said. Read more about the drone scandal and the nailbiter against France here.
Now here's some good news to start your Monday: En garde! for Canadian fencers at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. On Saturday, Fares Arfa of Laval, Que., upset three-time defending Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi of Hungary in men's sabre competition before narrowly losing in the quarterfinals. That was the best Olympic result by a Canadian fencer — until Eleanor Harvey topped it a day later with a bronze medal in women's individual foil. The 29-year-old from Hamilton defeated Italy's Alice Volpi 15-12 for the win. "It feels weird, but it feels cool," she told CBC Sports about being the first Canadian to win an Olympic fencing medal. "Honestly, there are a ton of really good fencers from Canada. I was the first medallist, but I won't be the last." Read more about Harvey's win — and see her stunned reaction — here. | | | FIRST PERSON | Picking blueberries with my family showed me I needed to be a less anxious parent | When Francis Chang was younger, he was an anxious parent and too focused on getting his young kids into college and eventually hired into good jobs. It took his mother-in-law’s instructions on blueberry picking to make him appreciate that kids are like blueberries — they need a bit more time, light and space to grow to become the best, most ready version of themselves. Read his First Person column here. | | | | | | |  | The US and Israel's 'special relationship' — Part 2 | | How the United States’ relationship with Israel affects the lives of Americans in the U.S. — sometimes in surprising ways. This is the second episode in our two-part series about the US-Israel relationship. Listen to today's episode. Listen to Part 1 here | | | Today in history: July 29 | | | 1873: The first Icelanders to migrate to Canada arrive. Their homes had been destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Numbering 285, they arrived in Quebec and headed for the Muskoka area of Ontario. They found it difficult to settle there, however, and moved on to Willow Point on Lake Winnipeg. They named it Gimli — Icelandic for paradise.
1916: A bush fire sweeps through Matheson, Ont., killing 223 people.
1958: U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower signs a bill creating the American space agency, NASA.
1981: Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer in London's St. Paul's Cathedral. An estimated 750 million people worldwide watched the televised ceremony. | | | (With files from CBC News, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters) | | | | |  | CBC NEWS APP | The most convenient way to get your news
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