Editor’s note: The following is a submitted letter to the editor in response to the Kingstonist article ‘Suspect arrested after rash of break-ins and vandalized vehicles at Kingston apartment buildings,’ published Thursday, Apr. 11, 2024. Kingstonist has verified the letter writer’s identity and confirmed the writer lives in the apartment building located at 1000 Old Mill Road, where more than 50 vehicles were broken into overnight in the building’s secure, underground parking garage.
The views and opinions expressed in this letter do not necessarily reflect those of Kingstonists.
To the Editor,
Every passing day we hear about the shortage in rental units in Ontario and soaring rental rates. Even if one is lucky enough to find an apartment, will they actually be able to afford the rent? Housing insecurity is on everyone’s mind but, so now, is building security.
Recently, my apartment building (1000 Old Mill Road in Kingston) experienced a spectacular act of vandalism to over 50 cars in the ‘secure’ underground parking. The police arrested the accused vandal (Charles Reynolds of Kingston) who is a parolee with a lengthy criminal record.
As we swept up shards of broken glass, traumatized residents of the building simply could not understand the motive for this crime. Very little (or nothing) was actually stolen – and, in some cases, bags of change were left untouched. It seems like Mr. Reynolds had very little to gain.
Of course, the knee-jerk reaction of many was to blame the building owners for not having a proper security system. How could a door at the back of the property have been forced open without triggering an alarm? A group of angry residents even organized a meeting to pursue this incident with Homestead Landholdings Inc. Little did they know they were venturing into precarious territory.
You see, the apartment building at 1000 Old Mill Road was built prior to 2018, which means it is protected by rent control – effectively capping annual rent increases to 2.5 per cent. This gives the many pensioner residents a sense of security about being able to cover the cost of living. However, according to a recent article in CBC News, Ontario landlords do have a loophole around rent control – if they install a new security system, they can raise the rent by an additional three per cent (and they can continue to do so each year if the cost of security increases).
According to CBC Investigates, Ontario’s big landlords do seem to be aggressively pursuing opportunities to negate rent control. Unfortunately, in this period of historic housing shortages, the grim choice for tenants is to either settle for current levels of building security or to ‘force open’ the door to housing insecurity where rent may potentially increase at a rate of up to 5.5 per cent , year over year.
For the sake of my friends and neighbors, this tenant is sounding the alarm.
A tenant at 1000 Old Mill Road
Kingston
Share your views! Submit a Letter to the Editor or an Op/Ed article to Kingstonist’s Editor-in-Chief Tori Stafford at [email protected].
