I rise today to share a distressing story of one of my constituents, Laura, and her two autistic sons. After nine years in a basement apartment, they were served an N12 notice and suddenly evicted from their home. Laura is the sole provider for their family and faced incredible barriers in finding a new home.

Speaker, the rental market’s exorbitant demands pushed Laura and her sons away from their community. She was asked for extensive financial documentations, advance payments for up to a year and even to provide medical notes detailing her sons’ behaviours due to their autism, just to find a home. Laura’s history of timely payments—contributing substantially over $150,000 to her landlord’s mortgage while living in a basement—didn’t shield her from getting evicted.

Because Laura was unable to secure any affordable option in Toronto, she and her sons moved to Niagara Falls, leaving their community and their safety nets behind.

Speaker, this isn’t just Laura’s story; it’s a glimpse into the broken system. There are thousands of Ontarians, thousands of families struggling to find affordable places to live. So many small landlords are relying on rental income, struggling to keep up with the high rate of mortgages. Vulnerable tenants are facing impossible barriers to finding affordable housing. We are facing an enormous housing crisis across the city and the province.

The government must do better to safeguard tenants from unjust evictions and discriminatory rental practices. All Ontarians, regardless of their circumstances, deserve equitable access to safe and affordable housing.