QUEEN'S PARK – Ford’s Conservatives continued to show just how little they respect Ontario tenants today with the appointment of Alexandre Traboulsi to the Landlord and Tenant Board.
Traboulsi works as a senior manager for Smart Living Properties in Ottawa, a property management company that has a well-documented history of mistreating tenants, raising serious concerns about his suitability for the role.
"It is appalling that the Ford government would appoint someone whose only employment history has been as a representative of a landlord that has shown blatant disregard for the rights of Ottawa tenants," said MPP Chandra Pasma (Ottawa West—Nepean). "Ontarians deserve access to justice from unbiased adjudicators in the Landlord and Tenant Board. The appointment we saw today is the opposite of that.
"During the period in which Trabulsi worked for Smart Living Properties and represented them at the Landlord Tenant Tribunal, Smart Living Properties was accused of many practices that put tenants in dangerous and unsafe situations, in addition to renovicting hundreds of Ottawa residents.
"Members appointed to the LTB hear cases where people are coming with complaints about their landlords not addressing maintenance and living conditions, when they are living in squalid conditions with sewage flooding, with furnaces that don't work, with bed bug infestations, with heat that's not working. This appointee has voluntarily worked for a property manager who has forced tenants to live in these conditions. How can renters feel like they would get a fair hearing from him?
"The Ford government has already broken the LTB. Appointments like this do not restore public trust. Today’s appointment only further demonstrates just how out of touch Conservatives are with the needs of Ontarians and the right of renters to have a safe and decent place to call home."
ADDITIONAL QUOTES:
MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam (Toronto Centre), NDP Critic for the Attorney General:
"It's deeply troubling to witness the Ford government appointing individuals with such troubling track records to crucial roles. The appointment of Alexandre Traboulsi raises serious questions about the government's commitment to tenant well-being. This decision reinforces the urgent need for transparent and accountable processes in appointing officials who play a pivotal role in shaping housing policies."
QUICK FACTS:
Just some of Smart Living Properties' troubling track record:
- 2023: Algonquin Student reveals shocking conditions, including floods, bed bugs, and rats. Maintenance issues were ignored or poorly addressed.
- 2023: Smart Living Properties forces mass evictions in Sandy Hill using renoviction tactics, displacing well over 100 tenants.
- 2022: Despite the city saving Manor Village, Smart Living Properties proceeds with renovictions, displacing tenants whose homes were just spared.
- 2020-2022: Four tenants die in squalid conditions in a Smart Living Properties rooming house in Sandy Hill. Reports describe appalling living conditions, infestations, and neglect.
- 2021: Tenants in Sandy Hill take Smart Living Properties to the Landlord andTenant Board for renovictions, some left without heat. They win a deal to move to other Smart Living Properties homes in Sandy Hill.
- 2015: Takyan Properties, the legal name of Smart Living Properties, rents unfinished homes to students and does not tell them that construction is not finished by move-in date.