Chiara Padovani wasn’t well known when she first ran for Toronto city council in 2018.
asserted
she → know → 2018
The social worker, who made tenant advocacy a key part of her platform, came in third place for York South—Weston, falling thousands of votes shy of the winner, longtime incumbent Coun. Frances Nunziata.
asserted
advocacy → make → winner
But, invigorated by the organizing she had done as part of her campaign, she went on to co-found the York South—Weston Tenant Union in 2020.
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she → invigorate → 2020
In 2022, Padovani ran for council again and lost — but this time, by just 94 votes.
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Padovani → run → votes
She continued tenant organizing in the years that followed, and this April, she helped expand her neighbourhood group into the citywide Toronto Tenant Union.
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she → continue → Union
Now, Padovani is running in the Toronto election for a third time, but in a different political landscape — one with active, organized renters and a popular conversation around housing that explicitly includes tenant rights.
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that → run → rights
Federal, provincial and municipal governments each control a piece of the GTA’s housing puzzle.
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governments → control → puzzle
It’s time voters demand they work as one.
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they → ’ → one
Federal, provincial and municipal governments each control a piece of the GTA’s housing puzzle.
asserted
governments → control → puzzle
It’s time voters demand they work as one.
asserted
they → ’ → one
Tenants seem to be more influential than ever, successfully leading high-profile rent strikes, pushing back against provincial legislation that could have ended rent control, and advocating for meaningful policy changes at the municipal level, such as the one-year-old “renoviction” bylaw.
uncertain
that → seem → bylaw
Politicians are recognizing their clout and even fighting over who should take credit for some of these wins.
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who → recognize → wins
As the movement grows, candidates are listening, and multiple candidates are tenant advocates, themselves, giving renters in this election a fresh opportunity to shape Toronto’s future approach to housing.
“We can no longer be taken for granted,” Padovani says.
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Padovani → grow → housing
Moving on from ‘tenants don’t vote’
When Padovani first ran for council, she says political insiders advised her not to bother talking to renters because “tenants don’t vote.”
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tenants → move → renters
She ignored the advice, though she knew there were roadblocks to tenants going to the polls.
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she → ignore → polls
Up until 2024, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) was responsible for providing municipalities with a preliminary voters’ list.
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Corporation → provide → list
“The invitation to vote that the city sends out … was necessarily excluding a massive voting population, which were renters,” she said.
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she → vote → population
Padovani says the list, now handled by Ontario’s Chief Electoral Officer, has become more inclusive.
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list → say → Officer
But there’s another layer to the rise in tenants’ political power, and it has to do with their becoming more unified — through tenant associations, protests, and rent strikes — and getting results.
Padovani says a catalyst for expanding the York South—Weston Tenant Union was the national attention garnered by two successful rent strikes in 2023.
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catalyst → ’ → 2023
The group began receiving “constant” calls from tenants outside the neighbourhood looking for help organizing in their own buildings.
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group → begin → buildings
“It captured the hearts and imaginations of tenants across the city, demonstrating that we don’t actually have to accept the status quo,” she says.
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she → capture → quo
Toronto Tenant Union has already racked up several achievements: a one-year rent-freeze at an 1,100-unit complex on Dundas West, years of backlogged repairs completed at a 140-unit building in Etobicoke, and dismissals of Above Guideline Increase (AGI) applications in North York and Etobicoke.
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Union → rack → York
Not only are tenant advocates more politically engaged, they’re joining the race.
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they → engage → race
Along with Padovani, front-line worker Diana Chan McNally is running for council in Parkdale—High Park; climate and housing activist Diana Yoon in University—Rosedale; and Jennie Worden, who helped organize for repair-starved 500 Dawes Rd., in Beaches—East York.
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who → run → Beaches
What tenants want — and what they don’t
Three tenant groups who spoke with the Star — ACORN, the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations (FMTA), and the Toronto Tenant Union — broadly agreed the most pressing municipal issues for renters are RentSafeTO inspections and enforcement, a maximum heat bylaw and creative solutions to unaffordable rent hikes.
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issues → want → hikes
While rent control is legislated by the province, advocates said they want more municipal policies that enforce the Residential Tenancies Act and help tenants, like the renoviction bylaw.
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that → legislate → bylaw
They did not name new market-rate housing — often the focus of different levels of government — as a priority, emphasizing there are limits to how much more supply can help affordability.
Yaroslava Avila Montenegro, FMTA executive director, said the conversation around supply and demand often leaves what she views as a human right to “the free market,” when it should focus on social housing.
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it → name → housing
“You can build all the housing you want,” she said.
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she → build → housing
“It doesn’t mean people can afford it.”
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people → mean → it
For the same reason, the Toronto Tenant Union and Padovani said the city should require developers building on city land to make all units rent-controlled.
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units → say → land
Where mayoral candidates stand
In an email to the Star, Chow campaign spokesperson Zeus Eden highlighted the mayor’s “Renters Action Committee,” which led to the Rental Renovation License bylaw that has reduced renovictions to nearly zero, the doubling of RentSafeTO inspectors, and a push for repairs in buildings of negligent landlords.
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that → stand → landlords
Acting on the advice of the committee, Chow also pursued a long-awaited maximum temperature bylaw set to be approved next year, with a free air conditioning program for seniors and families in the meantime.
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Chow → act → meantime
The city asked the province to ensure the bylaw doesn’t result in AGIs for tenants, Eden added, noting Chow also expanded eviction-prevention and non-profit housing-funding programs.
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Chow → ask → programs
Planning experts say the city’s role has become more “constrained” under Ford, but it still has
The spokesperson said that while rent control is provincially legislated, “Olivia Chow will continue to find creative ways the city can fill the gap and protect renters from rising rent,” adding that she has also committed to creating a “Bad Landlords Task Force” that will pursue proactive inspections and court orders for repairs.
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that → say → repairs
In an email to the Star, Brad Bradford’s campaign spokesperson said Bradford plans to ensure RentSafeTO “has the staffing needed” to investigate and follow up on complaints and that eviction prevention initiatives are adequately funded.
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initiatives → say → complaints
He would also increase transparency around the renoviction bylaw he voted for by publishing a quarterly dashboard online by address, showing applications, licences issued and refused, investigations, and more.
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he → increase → applications
Additionally, Bradford would deliver a maximum heat standard on council’s existing June 2027 deadline with a “phased plan,” prioritizing the oldest towers and Toronto Community Housing, and expand the Air Conditioner Benefit, the spokesperson said.
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spokesperson → deliver → Benefit
“On rising rents, Brad isn’t going to promise tenants something a mayor can’t deliver,” the spokesperson said.
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spokesperson → rise → something
“What a mayor can do is use the tools the city actually has and take specific, winnable asks to Queen’s Park.”
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city → use → Park
Bradford supported the motion to ask the province not to allow AGIs for mandated cooling.
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Bradford → support → cooling
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
