137 Havelock St Toronto (across from Dufferin Grove Park)

The Building is listed as being owned by TRILLIUM INVESTMENT GROUP OF COMPANIES INC. located at 44 Tyrrell Ave Toronto M6G 2G2 (Google doesn't show a photo). The "group of companies" web link shows this, which is just a rental application. The url shows "glendale care" which is this website. It gives almost no information, but it has an address: 46 The Queensway Toronto, M6R 1B6. Google shows a low-rise apt building across from ST.Joseph's Hospital.

DinesafeToronto lists it as an institutional food service

This is a three-story building on a double lot, 50 feet wide and 147 feet long. It's said to be built in 1890.

The building is classified in one document as "a rooming or a boarding house." Another document classifies it as both "360 - rooming or boarding house" and also "301 - SINGLE FAMILY DETACHED" with 12 bedrooms and 9 full bathrooms.

MPAC gives its value for 2020 as $1.74 million. Since it was last sold for $510,000 in 1995, its value seems not to have increased as much as most other houses on the street.

Actual property taxes for 2019 (through FOI): $9,845.55 (compare: property tax calculator from the city of Toronto: $10,715)

Some property details:

link#1, link#2, link#3, link#4, link#5

Correspondence:

Sept.15, 2019, to 311 toronto:
can you tell me who to call to find out what the taxes have been for 137 Havelock St Toronto over the past years? Also, when it stopped being a low-cost rooming house?

Sept.16, 2019, from 311 Toronto:
We have forwarded your request to Revenue Services for review & response, regarding the amount of property tax paid.

To follow up with this matter, please contact Toronto Tax & Utility directly by dialing 311 and selecting option 1 (from Monday to Friday between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm), or via email at propertytax@toronto.ca.

Regarding the Rooming House status, your email has been forwarded to Shanta Persad - Rooming House Licensing - for review & response, and/or redirection. If you do not receive a reply within three business days, please contact Shanta directly. To reach her office by telephone, please dial 416-392-7594. If you wish to send an email, please direct it to Shanta.Persaud@toronto.ca.

Sept.16, 2019 to Property Tax Information
I got your email from 311. 137 Havelock is a low-rise apartment building that was formerly a rooming house. It seems that after there was a fire in one of the units, the building may have stayed empty (for at least the past 10 years). Renovations are said to be ongoing.

Has the owner been receiving reduced tax bills because of the building's designation?

Thanks for any help you can give me. I will also try to reach you by phone, since 311 gave me a number.

Sept.19, 2019, to Shanta Persaud
I was given your email by 311. Could you let me know if 137 Havelock is on your list of registered rooming houses?
I asked staff at SSHA but they said they are not allowed to tell me. Should I go through F.O.I.?

Sept.19, 2019 from Shanta Persaud
Yes it is a licence rooming house

Sept.19, 2019, to Shanta Persaud
Thank you. Does it get a tax break or some kind of a city housing supplement through SSHA?

Sept.19, 2019 from Shanta Persaud
I don't know

Sept.19, 2019, to Freedom of Information (FOI):
Please let me know the property taxes for 137 Havelock St. for the last 20 years.

Sept.19, 2019, from FOI: Can you please clarify what "tax information" you are looking to access, for example: taxes paid for the property, zoning of the property, etc…

Sept.19, 2019, to FOI:
Thanks for getting back so promptly. After I put in the FOI request, I found out that 137 Havelock is registered as a rooming house with the city. I have heard that such places may get a cut in their municipal property taxes if they offer rent-geared-to-income. They may even get a city subsidy, although I have no idea who to ask about that (maybe the auditor's office?). So I would like to know what the property taxes were on that property, for the time period I mentioned (or shorter).

Sept.19, 2019, from FOI:
Thank-you for the response.

Sept.20, 2019, to Auditor General, Toronto
Dear audit staff,
I'm looking for information about the city's arrangement for rent subsidies for RGI housing.

Your June 21 report was of more than usual interest for our neighbourhood -- since the proximity of a women's 24-hour drop-in (Sistering) has resulted in more homeless women than usual sleeping in our local park (Dufferin Grove Park) this summer. They say that sleeping in the park is safer than the drop-in. One 71-year old woman in a wheelchair has been living in the park for 6 weeks now.

There is clearly a shortage of RGI housing. The odd thing in this area is that there is a low-rise apartment building right across from the park (137 Havelock) that has been empty for at least 10 years. The city says it's still registered as a rooming house. It used to have low-income tenants who were living with mental illness. It looks in good shape.

I have put in an FOI request to see if the owner has been receiving a tax reduction all these years, but I don't know how to find out whether the city has been giving the place a rent subsidy as well. Can you give me an idea of who to ask?

Sept.20, 2019, from 311 toronto:
Unfortunately we cannot disclose tax amounts over email. You can obtain information on the Toronto Property System https://www.toronto.ca/311/knowledgebase/kb/docs/articles/city-clerks-office/secretariat/assessment-rolls-property-ownership-letters-of-ownershiptenancy.html by getting the assessed value of the property and then by using the tax calculator.

https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/property-taxes-utilities/property-tax/property-tax-calculator/

Sept.22, 2019, to 311 toronto:
Thanks again. I went to the links but was completely unable to figure them out. Instead, I have submitted a freedom of information request, and also written to the city auditor for help.
311 was not helpful in this case. It might be good if whoever gets this email tries looking up the taxes for 137 Havelock. You get a medal if it works for you :).
The issue here is that the apartment building in question is a registered rooming house but has been empty for more than a decade while there are homeless people living in the park across the street from there -- so I hope that 311 can make it easier to find such info.

Sept.25, 2019, to ask@housingconnections.ca I am interested in whether the registered rooming house at 137 Havelock St. is on your list for eligible housing subsidy sites. Can you let me know?

October 7, 2019 from propertytax@toronto.ca, Revenue Services Division:
The Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) precludes the City of Toronto’s Revenue Services Division from releasing account specific information to anyone other than the registered property owner or their authorization agent. As our records do not indicate that you have an interest in this property we are unable to disclose any information at this time. In order to disclose information to you we require a signed letter of authorization from the property owner via reply email to propertytax@toronto.ca. Alternatively the property owner can contact us directly for details on their account.

October 7, 2019 to FOI:
I am confused about the email I just got (see below) -- it says it's from PropertyTax but seems to refer to my FOI request.
Please let me know if this is an FOI-mediated response. What I need to know is whether property tax was lowered in this (or any) case if a building is a registered rooming house that offers rent-geared-to-income for low-income and vulnerable tenants. At issue is that this registered rooming house has apparently stood empty for at least 10 years.

If I am not allowed to find out whether 137 Havelock had the property taxes lowered in this case, can I submit another FOI request about the city's policy in promoting rent-geared-to-income rooming house registration through tax breaks? A policy question should not -- I believe -- need an FOI request, but I seem not to be able to find out in any other way.

Oct.8, 2019, from FOI:
We are still processing your current FOI# 2019-02073 that you submitted online on September 19, 2019 for tax information for 137 Havelock St.

Oct.15, 2019, from propertytax@toronto.ca, Revenue Services Division (identical response to the Oct.7th one)
The Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) precludes the City of Toronto’s Revenue Services Division from releasing account specific information to anyone other than the registered property owner or their authorized agent. As our records do not indicate that you have an interest in this property, we are unable to disclose any information at this time. In order to disclose information to you, we require a signed letter of authorization from the property owner via reply email to propertytax@toronto.ca. Alternatively, the property owner can contact us directly for details on their account.

Oct.15, 2019, to propertytax@toronto.ca, Revenue Services Division
Thank you. This is the second time I have received this identical message. I had previously requested the information from FOI and they will get back to me.

Oct.28, 2019, to propertytax@toronto.ca, Revenue Services Division:
I received the tax info re 137 Havelock through Freedom of Information today (attached). I did not have to get authorization from the owner. So the information you sent me (below) is incorrect. Could you send me the contact of a manager in your unit so I can find out the reason for the mixup?

Nov.20, 2019, FOI request Please let me know how much (if any) government subsidy has been paid to the owner of the registered rooming house building at 137 Havelock St. Toronto, in each of the past 20 years (1999 to 2019) for rent-geared-to-income units in this building. I am referring to payments called for in Reg 370/11 of the Housing Services Act, 2011, referenced in the Auditor General’s report “Opening Doors to Stable Housing” (https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2019/au/bgrd/backgroundfile-135339.pdf).

Nov.20, 2019, from the Auditor General, Toronto
Thank you for your email on September 20, 2019 related to the RGI audit entitled “Opening Doors to Stable Housing: An Effective Waiting List and Reduced Vacancy Rates Will Help More People Access Housing.”

In response to your question about “rooming houses,” they are funded separately from social housing units. The address you provided, 137 Havelock, is not included in the City’s social housing stock of RGI units.

For any additional information about rooming houses or RGI housing units please contact the following person in the Shelter, Support and Housing Administration Division: Doug Rollins, Director, Housing Stability Services, Shelter, Support and Housing Administration, City of Toronto, 416-392-0054, Doug.Rollins@toronto.ca

Nov.21, 2019, to the Auditor General, Toronto
Thank you for your response. It happens that I had just put in an FOI request asking about any government subsidies to the landlord for this building. A previous FOI request about the taxes for 137 Havelock over the past 20 years brought a very low amount, but there's a lot I don't understand about how empty buildings are regulated. I hope to learn a little more and put that information out to my neighbours.

Dec.2, 2019, to Mr.Casey Brendon, director of Revenue Services, Toronto
Dear Mr.Brendon,
I got some information from your staff in October (the same letter twice, actually), saying that your staff were not allowed to send me some tax information because it's "precluded under FIPPA" (see below). As you see from the attachment, I did get the information, through FIPPA. So your staff must have been misinformed. I would like to follow up on this to make sure that your staff know the law as it applies here. I had no response re which manager (supervisor?) I could contact to discuss this.

Could you let me know?

Dec.3, 2019, to Doug Rollins, Director, Housing Stability Services
Dear Mr.Rollins,
I wrote to the auditor in September asking about any subsidy that 137 Havelock (a registered rooming house, empty for many years) gets or has ever received from the city. Since I got no answer, I also filed a freedom of information request.
On Nov. 20 I got a reply from the auditor's office that included this: For any additional information about rooming houses or RGI housing units please contact the following person in the Shelter, Support and Housing Administration Division: Doug Rollins, Director, Housing Stability Services, Shelter, Support and Housing Administration, City of Toronto.
Could you let me know, or pass me on to someone who can let me know, whether the city gives or has ever given rent subsidies either to a landlord, or directly a tenant in need, for rooming house rent?
I would appreciate your help in clearing this up for me --
Jutta Mason, celos.ca

Dec.11, 2019, response from Doug Rollins

There are no RGI subsidies, housing allowances or rent supplements funded through the City at this time, nor has there ever been, for 137 Havelock.

From July 1998 to March 2000, support service funding for 137 Havelock was provided under contract with Habitat Services. That contract expired on March 31, 2000.

SSHA funds several programs specifically targeted at rooming house tenants. This includes housing allowances and relocation supports in the event of redevelopment or emergency issues.

Should have any additional questions, please feel free to contact Arlene Rawson, Housing Consultant. I've copied Arlene on this e-mail and she can be reached by telephone at 416-397-4170.

Dec.14, 2019 from FOI, access request #2019-02532:

137 Havelock is not a currently funded site. However, they were funded as a "boarding House Owner" through Habitat Services up until March 2000. The Home lost their rooming house license in 2000.

Dec.18, 2019 response from Revenue Services

Their email contained a pdf saying "going forward, Revenue Services will be in a position disclosing [sic] total taxes levied."