CAMBRIDGE - Signs line the street outside of 94 Beck St. in Preston as residents take part in the protests happening across Ontario against property owner Micheal Klein.
The 24-unit building has about 10 residents holding on as they try to avoid being kicked out of their long-term homes by renoviction.
Renoviction describes a tactic used by some landlords to get tenants out of their rent-controlled units. They evict them claiming they need to do major renovations but once upgraded, sometimes with minor changes like new tiles, the units are offered at significantly higher rates.
"Some of us have been here for over 20 years. We're not leaving," said Tammy Kincaid who has lived at 94 Beck St. with her son for the past 13 years.
In May, nearly every resident of the building was served N9s and N13s to end their tenancy so renovations could be completed. They were also offered $6,000 in cash to give up their keys or had the option to move into the renovated units at a higher rental rate.
Most of the residents like Kincaid were paying under $1,000 a month and the updated rentals run for $1,800.
"The notice said to be out by Sept. 30, but we're still here."
The rental advocacy organization ACORN has staged protests at numerous Klein buildings around Ontario as they call him the "most prolific renovictor in Ontario."
Multiple attempts to reach Klein have been unsuccessful.
According to Acer Bonaparte who is the chair for the Waterloo region chapter of ACORN, Klein owns 21 other buildings across the province and adds this method of buying a building and kicking out the residents is common practice.
"These units all are lower income and low rent buildings. He is preying on these people to make money," said Bonaparte. "These units will be lost forever."
Within the 21 buildings, ACORN estimates that there will be around 1,750 residents evicted from affordable housing if Klein gets his way.
In a report from ACORN, they note that residents in all of the Klein-owned buildings have experienced the same treatment and tactics such as bribery, threats and harassment.
At the Beck Street apartments, Kincaid agrees and other tenants like Eileen Frizzel are calling the landlord's actions predatory and inhumane.
"This is bullshit, I've been here for 21 years. Where am I supposed to go?," said Frizzel. "We are together and showing that we don't care who comes in here, we're not going."
Documents obtained by CambridgeToday show Klein has been buying most of these properties from multiple numbered companies and separate corporations like 94 Beck Inc. and 1524256 ONTARIO LIMITED.
"For each property, he has another company, another name. You don't hide behind shell companies like this for no reason. Something else is going on," said Bonaparte.
"This hiding means you're doing something bad, you have a guilty conscience."
While the Cambridge protest was more of a silent one, others in Kitchener, Lindsay and Toronto saw dozens of people protest in front of Klein-owned buildings to raise awareness about the issue hundreds of tenants are facing.
Just yesterday, Kincaid and 10 other residents received cheques under their doors for nearly $3,000 each in another attempt at what she calls "bribing the residents."
"$3,000 isn't even enough for first and last month's rent anymore, but none of us are going to cash it," she said. "We're all too afraid of the implications."
Bonaparte and ACORN have been searching for the whereabouts of Klein for years with no luck. To the best of his knowledge, Bonaparte hasn't heard of any member of the organization actually being in contact with Klein.
"I think the hope is if they ignore us we'll go away but there's no chance in hell. We're not going away," he said.
