For years, in 海角社区官网neighbourhoods like Jane and Finch, young people living in community housing have felt harassed by the constant 鈥 and seemingly arbitrary 鈥 questioning by police: What鈥檚 your name? Where are you going? Do you live here?
Community members have long raised alarms about the impacts of that heightened policing on racialized youth, warning they were subject to unneeded surveillance.
鈥淧olicing, security and housing have long been in deep partnership,鈥 said Sam Tecle, who grew up in social housing and who now works as a community leader with a local youth organization. 鈥淚n places like Jane and Finch, police don鈥檛 see any difference between the streets that they patrol 鈥 and housing.鈥
That experience is backed by policy: longstanding deals between the 海角社区官网Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) and 海角社区官网police have allowed police to act on TCHC鈥檚 behalf as a landlord in certain social housing buildings 鈥 effectively, allowing officers to stop anyone on the properties, anytime, to determine whether or not they鈥檙e trespassing.
The power has been condemned by community members as an example of systemic anti-Black racism in the city鈥檚 social housing. Now, TCHC is admitting the agreements have caused problems.
Known as 鈥渁gent of the landlord鈥 agreements or 鈥渢respass to property act authorization letters,鈥 the deals came under scrutiny during a recent probe into how anti-Black racism has permeated TCHC, which began last September after global protests about racism and policing.
A report from that probe, endorsed by TCHC鈥檚 board of directors in February, said the deals created an 鈥渦s versus them鈥 dynamic with their residents, and should therefore be abolished.
It鈥檚 unclear just how many agreements would be eliminated. Neither TCHC nor police will say how many have been in force over recent years, nor where they have been in the past.
TCHC spokesperson Bruce Malloch declined to share those details. Malloch said the agency was currently reviewing the agent of the landlord agreements in light of the anti-Black racism report. Following that review, the agency said it plans to report back to its board of directors.
The 海角社区官网Police Service deferred questions about the arrangements back to TCHC, saying it was the housing agency鈥檚 choice where the deals were enacted. The 海角社区官网Police Association, which represents uniformed and civilian members of the service, said questions about the deals were better posed to the police service, since they weren鈥檛 familiar with the formal agreements.
鈥淚 think these institutions are ashamed to reveal to what degree they鈥檙e cozy with police,鈥 said Tecle, adding that disclosing that information would give the community housing agency a clear starting point to move in another direction.
Court records fill in some of the gaps. A 2019 case reveals one such deal, which covered a TCHC townhouse complex in the Jane and Finch area in 2010. A highrise at 2765 Islington Ave., was covered by one of the agreements as recently as 2017. A letter from TCHC to cops in Scarborough鈥檚 43 Division from 2012 鈥 obtained by the Star 鈥 let officers act as community housing鈥檚 agent 鈥渦ntil otherwise noted鈥 in 20 nearby buildings.
Some residents in recent years have called for more police in their buildings, with hopes of heightening security, but court records also show where the deals have led to problems.
In 2008, at a TCHC property at 4205 Lawrence Ave. E., a police officer enforcing the trespass act on the agency鈥檚 behalf saw a man standing near what he thought to be a 鈥渃rack house鈥 and asked him to identify himself, according to an Ontario court decision. When the man hesitated, the officer arrested and searched him 鈥 finding cocaine 鈥 without cautioning he could be arrested, asking him to leave, or warning he could be ticketed as a trespasser if he refused.
The resulting charges were thrown out. The judge called the officer鈥檚 approach 鈥 using his authority to enforce trespassing to look for other criminal activity 鈥 鈥渞ather cavalier and unprofessional,鈥 while deeming the search a breach of the man鈥檚 rights.
The deals between TCHC and police also played a role in the case of four Black teenage boys 鈥 known as the Neptune Four 鈥 who were arrested and charged outside their Lawrence Heights home in 2011. The incident kicked off a years-long misconduct hearing that resulted in two police officers being found guilty of unlawful arrest this year, and one of excessive force.
The two officers, assigned to the now-disbanded 海角社区官网Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) unit, were at a Neptune Drive community housing complex to enforce the trespassing law, the tribunal heard. They stopped the boys on their way to a mentoring session based on no observable actions or specific complaints, according to hearing officer Insp. Richard Hegudus.
Both officers were found guilty of discreditable conduct 鈥 for making arrests without enough cause 鈥 and one was found guilty of using excessive force, after punching one of the boys.
Naomi Nichols, a Trent University professor who studied TCHC鈥檚 security strategies in Jane and Finch for several years starting in 2013, said it鈥檚 been evident since long before last year鈥檚 Black Lives Matters protests that heightened police presence in social housing was exposing racialized youth to greater surveillance. While doing interviews for her own study, she said youth who lived or hung out in social housing reported being subject to 鈥渞elentless鈥 police encounters.
Young person after young person would describe a similar situation to what Tecle said he hears from high schools in the area today 鈥 they鈥檇 be walking or biking around their community, Nichols said, and police officers would suddenly approach to ask them where they were going.
When police were given freer access to community housing, she said it opened the door for Black tenants in particular to be subject to more scrutiny and police interactions. In consultations for this year鈥檚 anti-Black racism report, young Black men living in TCHC buildings described feeling targeted, mocked and unsafe in their own communities.
鈥淭he thing that鈥檚 sad is that the young people that we talked to, it was 70 young people that we interviewed 鈥 they knew this six years ago,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hey were clear about the problem six years ago. We, six years ago, put together articles like this that laid out the evidence of how this is happening. And it鈥檚 taken a long time for people to respond ... somehow, none of that mattered in the face of the evidence the police were generating about their own practices.鈥
She sees eliminating the formal deals with 海角社区官网police as an 鈥渆xcellent鈥 first step to address the way security practices can impact Black tenants in particular.
Tecle hopes scrapping the deals forces officers to think more before entering community housing. 鈥淓very incident is not a beat down or end at the barrel of a gun. Sometimes it鈥檚 just knowing there鈥檚 just a bunch of police, all the time, in your area and they can stop you whenever they want.鈥
Without the agreements with TCHC, police could still come onto its properties in a law enforcement capacity 鈥 they just wouldn鈥檛 be acting on the agency鈥檚 behalf. Moving forward, Tecle hopes TCHC involves in any safety initiatives faith leaders, local organizations and its own residents, who may already have a measure of trust in their communities.
鈥淚 fully like the idea that it鈥檒l force us to do something else,鈥 he said.
But he worries that after relying on an embedded police presences for so long, the report still won鈥檛 lead to a true transformation.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been saying this s—t since at least I was young, since the 90s, and other groups before us since the 70s,鈥 Tecle said. 鈥淣othing has changed.鈥
With files from Jim Rankin and Wendy Gillis
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