A 57-unit apartment building in Scarborough had only seen two eviction applications over the course of nine years under the ownership of one landlord.
Then in 2018, Starlight Investments purchased the building and, in just over a year, filed 29 eviction applications 鈥 increasing the rate of filings more than 10,000 per cent, a recent study revealed.
Starlight Investments 鈥渋s, in some ways, leading the charge鈥 in聽transforming multi-family housing stock,聽said聽Martine August, a professor of planning in Waterloo鈥檚 faculty of environment and the co-author of聽a recent study on 海角社区官网landlords鈥 behaviour around eviction.
While there are several actors involved in the financialization of Toronto鈥檚 rental housing, a process by which multi-family apartments are turned into products for investors by financial firms, which is associated with patterns of displacement and gentrification, Starlight is the 鈥渂iggest鈥 player among them, August said.
The Toronto-based real estate investment and asset management company owns 54,000 suites in Canada as of 2023 鈥 including about 13,000 apartments in 海角社区官网鈥 making it the largest private landlord in the country.
Pursuing eviction appears to be part of its 鈥減laybook”聽for generating returns for investors, August said, pointing to findings in her research, the company鈥檚 own statements and stories from tenants.
Starlight Investments declined to provide comment when reached by the Star.
The study conducted by August and University of Toronto鈥檚 Julie Mah, published earlier this month, examined about 230,000 eviction applications in 海角社区官网from 2010 to 2019 across purpose-built rental apartments with 20 or more units. It accounted for all types of eviction applications 鈥斅爏uch as nonpayment of rent and no-fault evictions for renovations 鈥斅燽ut did not specify the types in the data.
It found聽“financial landlords” pursued eviction more often than any other type of landlord, and Starlight pursued eviction at an even higher rate.
Starlight was found to file an average of 15 eviction applications per 100 units each year, while financial firms overall filed an average 11 eviction applications per 100 units each year.
Meanwhile, chain-managed and chain-owned properties filed for eviction at a rate of about seven per 100 units, multiple-owner landlords and non-profit landlords filed at a rate of five per 100 units, and聽single-owner landlords聽and public housing filed at a rate of four per 100 units.
Financial landlords include聽real estate investment trusts, asset managers, private equity firms and publicly listed companies.
The trends among聽these聽landlords are especially concerning given they are 鈥渋ncreasingly dominating ownership鈥 of the rental market, August said.
The study noted financial firms have consolidated an increasing share of the city鈥檚 multi-family housing stock since the late-1990s and bought 鈥渘early all鈥 buildings sold in recent years in Toronto.
Starlight was also more aggressive than the average financial firm in filing evictions after purchasing a property 鈥 increasing filings after acquisition fourfold on average, compared to threefold for financial firms overall 鈥 even while financial firms were the most aggressive type of landlord in doing this, the study found.
In the years after Starlight鈥檚 2013 purchase of a 72-unit apartment building in Willowdale, the company increased eviction filings at the property by 1,750 per cent, the study found.
The owner since 1983 had 鈥減rofitably managed the building鈥 with only one eviction application over four years, the study said, but Starlight, in six years, had 27 eviction applications.
In 23 Starlight properties, one-third or more tenant households faced eviction each year, on average, and most of those buildings were in lower-income聽areas, the study said.
At 5600 Sheppard Ave. in Malvern, Starlight pursued evictions for more than half of the building’s households each year, a rate of about 53 eviction applications per 100 units.
At 2757 Kipling Ave., the rate was a “shocking” 67 eviction applications per 100 units, the report said.
In August’s view, a renter whose building Starlight has purchased has reason to be nervous.
聽鈥淭hings are going to change, and those changes might not benefit existing residents there. They might benefit the people who are (replacing old tenants),” she said.
August noted renovations are part of the company’s “value-add” strategy, and highlighted that Starlight CEO Daniel Drimmer has said 鈥渕oney and returns are made in the suites when the suites turn over,” referring to the landlord’s ability to charge market-level rent after a rent-controlled unit is vacated.
“It’s something that I think policymakers who are concerned about displacement and affordability should have their eye on,” she said.
Another academic, not involved in the study, said the impact of high eviction filing rates in marginalized communities is far-reaching.
“Many of these large, financialized landlords are acquiring a lot of the properties within these communities, and as a result, these folks are priced out and pushed out of these communities,” said聽Nemoy Lewis, an assistant professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at 海角社区官网Metropolitan University.
The study found public housing聽had the lowest rates of eviction applications across Toronto, regardless of neighbourhood or socio-economic status, and called for “expanded decommodification and definancialization” of housing.
Aled ab Iorwerth, deputy chief economist for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., said聽private investment is important 鈥 specifically for construction of new rental supply, which would add more options for renters and increase affordability in the long-term.
Iorwerth聽doesn’t necessarily believe private investors make a positive impact on the market when buying rental stock from other types of landlords, but he said it will be a challenge to figure out how best to update aging rental stock.
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