Preserve Strong Communities with Housing Mediation

CCR has recently expanded its Housing Mediation Programs to serve the Markham Courthouse!  Thanks to your support, since March 1, 2015 we have served more than 100 clients at Markham Courthouse. The story below is a great example of how CCR helps tenants and landlords through this program:

Belinda was a tenant in Preston’s building, and had gotten behind by several months in her rent payments. She had recently been diagnosed with cancer and was going through treatment. All of Belinda’s money was going towards paying her medical bills. Belinda assumed that Preston had plenty of resources, therefore, she didn’t give much thought to how this was impacting him – her health was her first concern.

During mediation, Preston had a chance to explain that the building wasn’t his. He was managing the property for his mother-in-law, who lived in the other unit of the two-flat building. Preston’s mother-in-law was in home hospice, and without income from the rental unit, they would be unable to afford her end-of-life care. Belinda and Preston realized the commonalities in their situation, and were able to discuss the difficulties of paying for medical care, as well as the importance of responsibility. What Preston needed most was to get a paying tenant into the building’s other unit.

Belinda and Preston were able to reach an agreement where Belinda’s past due rent was forgiven in exchange for her moving out of the unit quickly; she’d arranged to live with family, who could also help to take care of her. Without the chance to have this conversation, the situation would have ended much differently for both Belinda and Preston.