Finding the Power - REAL STORIES

There's a house in Toronto straight out of a tale by Kafka.

The three adult residents and their five kids are living in a place that is literally caving in around their ears. Their bathroom floor has rotted, condensation rains down from the basement ceiling, taps leak, the kitchen floor is sinking, heat blasts year-round and an army of cockroaches have set up camp.

For three long years, Wayne, Maria and Diane have been battling an unresponsive landlord. And the struggle is taking its toll -- their living conditions are making them ill. Literally.

The kids ranging in age from four to 12 are experiencing respiratory problems; a few suffer from asthma. All of the family members say they are drained to the point of weakness. The parents are frazzled and at the end of their emotional tether. They all nod wearily when asked if living in the house is jeopardizing the harmony of their relationships.

"All little life things become major life things," says Maria. "It's difficult when it's a struggle to get a glass of water out of the tap."

Since moving in, they've been reporting the problems to the property manager. They've been met with a wall of indifference, scorn and incompetence. The state of disrepair in the bathroom is the best example.

Instead of fixing the structural damage -- a rotting subfloor -- workers are sent in to replace the linoleum as the floor peels back from the tub. Water was seeping down to the ceiling of the living room, threatening to cave it in. In fact, one worker told them not to fill the tub and have someone get in or else it would crash right through.

Letters, phone calls, personal visits did nothing to budge the property manager. But once the community worker from the local health centre got involved, there was some action. That wasn't without its trials, though. After five days without use of the bath -- the landlord hadn't coordinated visits between the plumber, electrician, plasterer and the painter -- the floor was finally repaired. And that's just one of the problems solved.

"We're all articulate people who are active in the community," says Diane. "We know where to go and who to talk to. I can't imagine what it would be like if you can't speak English."

It's the sheer volume of stories like that one that helped galvanize the Tenant Action Group (TAG) out of the Regent Park Community Health Centre. In fact, the number one issue health issue identified by community members is adequate housing. The centre hired a community environmental health worker four years ago, but an overwhelming caseload demanded that residents learn to work on these issues together. It was clear a broader-based program addressing systemic issues was necessary. And TAG was born.

Its genesis was in a conversation three years ago among a group of women sitting at a picnic bench out the back of the centre. Common problems concerning security, maintenance and safety led to the development of a newsletter featuring Qs and As and phone numbers for resources in the community, says tenant activist Deb Dineen. Members of the Spanish, Tamil and Somali communties were actively involved.

The group has had a rebirth and a bit of a makeover recently: now they're going after City Hall. TAG, as the group is known, has big plans for Toronto's November megacity election, says TAG member Shirley Mintz, a community resident for 16 years. "Our first and biggest challenge is making people aware of their rights," she adds. "There are things people just do not understand."

TAG is launching a big push to get people on the voters list and they are not stopping at that. Their plan includes getting people involved in screening the candidates and ultimately throwing their support behind someone who'll fight for them. Carol Walsh, active in the community for 24 years, says a big aim is to get people engaged in the political process. That, she says, will ultimately give them more control over their lives as well as the tools to seize control in other aspects of their well-being. "We need to get more residents involved," Walsh says.

Dineen agrees. "In this community, most of the residents aren't politically active. They don't understand the system, they don't believe in the system and they don't think their vote counts." The 11,500-strong community stands to get a strong political voice if they get out the vote out. Traditionally, in municipal elections, only 35 per cent of eligible voters ever make the trek to the polls. "We want to make sure that we get someone in there who is accountable to us," says Dineen. "Currently, because of the lack of vote at Regent Park, we don't have a lot of political power."

And that means bringing the politicians in and getting residents out to grill them on issues. TAG members want to organize several town hall meetings to hold candidates' feet to the fire and get genuine commitments, not just another pile of political promises.

Walsh, Mintz and Dineen all say that the work is exhausting: fighting bureaucrats can be a daunting experience, particularly when the results seem to come slowly. But Regent Park residents have built themselves a strong community and they aren't about to roll over. "We've all had traumatic things happen in our lives," says Walsh. "It's been tough for a lot of people in this community. The constant grind can grind you down. As far as fighting for our rights goes, well, our energy right now is low but we still don,t give up "

She says the voter education drive is just one small step in getting people to feel like they have enough power to change things around them. "Some people say you can't do this but I know we can."