Ajax tenants in affordable housing units plead for heritage designation to prevent redevelopment

Some of the building’s residents are appealing to the town for heritage designation in an effort to thwart management’s plans to redevelop the building.

Tenants of an Ajax apartment building are pleading with the town for heritage designation to avoid having their building redeveloped into a high rise.

Kristi Bentley lives in one of the units with her 11-year-old son Alex O’Sullivan.

“We moved here to get out of an abusive relationship,” she told CTV News Toronto. “To think about losing it, I don’t know where we’re going to live if this goes through.”

The single mother moved into the apartment in 2018 and pays about $1,100 a month for their two-bedroom unit.

“I don’t get child support. It’s just my income, that’s all I have, so this is what I can afford,” said Bentley.

Tyler Hunting lived with his mother-in-law and wife for nearly two decades before moving into their own unit about a year ago.

“My wife and I have been saving for a house for 10 years and with how much the housing prices are around here, nothing’s really affordable,” he said.

The rent prices for the units at 145 to 149 Kings Crescent are low because of the length of time tenants have remained, with some living in the building for up to 40 years.

The building itself was built in the early 1950s, before Ajax became a town. They were built to house workers during the war effort. The three-storey walk-up has no air conditioning or elevator, and the owners are set to redevelop it into a 25-storey high rise.

But the tenants argue the building should have a heritage designation because of its historic impact to the creation of Ajax.

Hunting, along with dozens of tenants, took their claims to town council to ask councillors about involving the heritage advisory committee.

“We want the town to do their own investigation because that’s what the process calls for,” said Hunting.

According to the developer’s heritage impact statement, the property has met one of the designation criteria but “[it] has not met the minimum of two criteria required,” to grant it status.

The Town’s bylaws listed on their website are from October 2022 and state a property only needs “one or more.”

In 2023, however, the province updated the Ontario Heritage Act, requiring a properties to meet at least two out of nine criteria for heritage status to be granted.

Following Hunting’s submission Mayor Shaun Collier said, “I’m pretty sure they have. The heritage advisory committee has already looked at this and passed on it being, or requesting it be a heritage site.”

Tenants expressed disappointment following the questions and response from council.

“They don’t really seem keen on sending it to the heritage council,” said Hunting. “We’ll see what the property and development team has to say, but it’s certainly not the answers that we were looking for today.”

The new building will have 335 new rental units and retail space at street level. Brosko Property Management tells CTV News Toronto 10 per cent of those new units “are proposed as affordable housing.”

“The proposal is still subject to a site plan review process and other approvals by town staff that must be secured for the redevelopment to proceed,” the statement reads.

Tenants have been told they will be notified at least four months in advance of a required move out date and receive three months’ rent compensation at the time the notice is provided.

There is also no expectation of any of that happening until January 2026.

Both the town and building management have said they will help tenants find housing.

“Our council is very concerned about the outcomes for the residents who are living in these buildings,” said Sam Paterson, interim supervisor of communications and engagement, at the Town of Ajax. “They’ve sat down a number of times so far with the owners of the property who are planning the redevelopment and are working through some negotiation pieces to see what can be done.”

The property management team says it is “proactively communicating” with the existing tenants to keep them posted on the “evolving development timeline.”

O’Sullivan, whose growth chart is etched into the wall of his and his mother’s unit, had one plea.

“To please not destroy our home because it has some grandparents and single moms,” he told CTV News.

A meeting is being held with the tenants, developer and the Town of Ajax on May 1.