FoodShare signed onto an open letter alongside 134 organizations across Ontario demanding that the provincial government repeal Schedule 12 of Bill 60.

The Encampment Justice Coalition and No Demovictions Ontario warn that Bill 60, if passed without scrutiny, would accelerate evictions, deepen Ontario’s housing and homelessness crisis, and further erode tenants’ rights across the province.

The legislative changes enshrined in Bill 60 will contribute to an escalating homelessness crisis across Ontario that municipalities and community agencies are already struggling to address. Last year, 81,000 Ontarians were homeless, and as many as 300,000 are projected to become homeless in the next ten years — a projection that was released before Bill 60 was introduced.

See the full letter below or find the original, including the full list of signatories, here.

— FULL LETTER BELOW —

Bill 60, the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, should be called the “Create Encampments Faster” Act.

The legislative changes enshrined in Bill 60 will contribute to an escalating homelessness crisis across Ontario that municipalities and community agencies are already struggling to address. Last year, 81,000 Ontarians were homeless, and as many as 300,000 are projected to become homeless in the next ten years — a projection that was released before Bill 60 was introduced. 

Bill 60 will expedite evictions by giving tenants less time and fewer means to pay rental arrears — right as Ontario is experiencing record unemployment and job losses. It will also make it more difficult for tenants to dispute an eviction application or appeal an eviction decision, and it takes away discretion from adjudicators at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) to consider a tenant’s circumstances before ruling on an eviction order. Finally, it takes away what little compensation — just one month’s rent — that tenants have a right to when their landlord decides to move themselves or a family member into their unit. 

In combination, Bill 60 will grow homelessness and encampments and undermine the right to housing. For municipalities, this means committing even more municipal resources and funding toward homelessness — a problem that local governments have little policy power to address but are expected to subsidize and manage with minimal revenue tools and support.

Indeed, the largest contributor to homelessness in Ontario is the province’s own policies — not mental health or addiction, as the Ford government has purported, but rather the systematic erosion of tenant protections, human rights, and affordability across Ontario.

The provincial government has largely created the crisis of homelessness and housing precarity that tenants, homeless people, municipal governments, and community agencies are forced to both endure and address. They have done this without ever consulting with tenants and homeless people — including on the provisions of Bill 60, which have been solely shaped by landlord and developer lobbyists. Even worse, on November 5th, 2025, the Ford government put forward a motion to by-pass public hearings on Bill 60, meaning that tenants, homeless people, municipalities, and homelessness and housing sector organizations will not be given any opportunity for feedback on legislation that will harm them profoundly 

This is wildly anti-democratic. The City of Toronto is 48% rental households. In Kingston and London, it’s 44% and 42%, respectively. Ottawa, Oshawa, and St. Catharine’s are all 36% renters. Millions of Ontarians are tenants, which makes Bill 60’s egregious impacts on rental protections and lack of consultation an issue that cannot be ignored.

As grassroots and civil society organizations, we are united against Bill 60’s attacks on renters across Ontario. We ask that the provincial government:

• Repeal Schedule 12 of Bill 60; and
• Engage in meaningful consultation with tenants and tenant advocacy organizations on any proposed amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act and any provincial housing policies that would impact tenants.

We also ask that municipalities across Ontario:

• Join with the City of Toronto to advocate against the provisions set out in Schedule 12 of Bill 60; and
• Review legal options available to them to protect renters and challenge the provisions set out in Schedule 12 of Bill 60, including potential Charter protections.

The Encampment Justice Coalition and No Demovictions Ontario warn that Bill 60, if passed without scrutiny, would accelerate evictions, deepen Ontario’s housing and homelessness crisis, and further erode tenants’ rights across the province.

Signed,

The Encampment Justice Coalition and No Demovictions Ontario