East York's 704 Mortimer Problem

East York is thought of as a great community, a community where it’s a rare occurrence for any sort of negative news. But there’s always trouble in paradise.

704 Mortimer is a housing complex run by the Fred Victor Centre, a foundation that through charity provides affordable housing to those in need. For years tenants have brought issues to management like flooding and water leaks. On Tuesday November 20^th, 2012 in the early hours of the morning the main water line on the third floor gave out and busted. Water then flooded the building and leaked through ceiling sending water throughout the building.

The following day the tenants of the building, many being single mothers were told by management that they must move out for the next 6 months in order for the proper repairs to be made.

Repair work has already been started, ripping up the carpet and tearing down walls to help avoid further mold and water damage.

“We feel absolutely terrible about what happened … but we don’t have any options here,” said Mark Aston, the executive director of the Fred Victor Centre per TheStar.com. “We have a team of seven people working on (relocation), and we’re working with the City of Toronto to find units for one to four months,” he said. “Obviously we are also going to do whatever we can do to support tenants, cover the costs of moving and any damage to their property”

Tenants of 704 Mortimer patiently wait outside their building

Photo Credit to Keith Beaty of the Toronto Star

The MPP of the East York-Beaches area, Michael Prue is aware of the situation.

“They have very few options in their lives. To just be uprooted from your home and told you can come back in 6 months is problematic.” He says, “…women with small children in school, how to get them out of one school and into another, where they might move, how close is that to all the resources they need and their jobs, it’s tough.”

Councilor Janet Davis plans to set up a tenant meeting sometime this week with services present, including Ontario Works and Toronto Public Health, to see what people need , whether it’s furniture, bedding or kitchen supplies per TheStar.com.