Assembling a digital dystopia

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Civic Technology Housing COVID-19

Notes

In late 2020, in the middle of an ongoing pandemic and a housing crisis, Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) transitioned to a “digital-first” policy for all future eviction proceedings. Almost all matters before the LTB are now heard via Zoom

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they’re basically digital only.”

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opaque and inaccessible system that tips the scales of justice toward landlords.

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Tenants’ challenges with the digital-first system extend from the realities of poverty and hardship: a lack of money to purchase and maintain technology, non-existent or slow internet connections, language barriers, disabilities, and unfamiliarity with digital systems.

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unreliable patchwork of phone, email, and video conferencing technologies that often maroon participants in waiting rooms for hours on end and deny them the ability to meaningfully participate

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far more expedient eviction process.

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60 per cent of renters said in a recent poll that they have had to cut back on food to afford their rent.

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A piece of pandemic-era legislation, the Hearings in Tribunal Proceedings (Temporary Measures) Act, 2020, empowered tribunals with even greater ability to conduct their hearings in any manner they deem appropriate.

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Decisions for “alternative hearing formats” are now ambiguously made on a case-by-case basis.

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we know of only two times when the LTB has allowed an in-person hearing since their “digital-first” policy was announced in 2020.

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“I don’t think the [LTB] fully appreciates the seriousness of the digital barrier,” Bramson says. “There is nothing that can beat a human interaction.”

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On the day of their hearing, a tenant would arrive at one of these physical locations – for example, on the seventh floor of 47 Sheppard Avenue East in Toronto – and check in with a commissionaire. In a hearing room, the adjudicator would begin an official electronic recording for the day, make important announcements, and then call on parties to hear their applications. Tenant duty counsel representatives – lawyers, paralegals, and legal workers who are tasked with helping unrepresented tenants who are facing eviction – would often be invited to announce their services during the introductions. Meanwhile, the commissionaire would typically hand the adjudicator a list of those in attendance, so that even if a tenant was outside the room, it was clear they were ready to participate. During the morning, afternoon, or full-day hearing block, tenants and landlords (often via their legal representatives) could work out a settlement.

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“so much work was done in the hallways.

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Parties could also put their names down on a waiting list for in-person mediation.

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The new LTB model requires participants to be present – either online or by telephone – for a morning, afternoon, or throughout the entire day

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The LTB does not provide individual hearing times nor do they account for technical failures or tenants dropping off calls

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a tenant can miss their hearing for something as simple as needing to step away to use the bathroom.

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The official LTB decisions, made available online, are a catalogue of various technological issues:

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When this happens – a tenant tries to participate, but is stymied by technology – instead of rescheduling the hearing, the LTB often proceeds regardless and orders an eviction without the tenant

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87 per cent of landlords were present at their LTB hearings, versus only 45 per cent of tenants. Landlords were far more likely to join via video and tenants far more likely to join by phone.

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a majority of low-income tenants don’t have sufficient bandwidth to fully participate in their hearings,”

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Phoning in puts tenants at a distinct disadvantage.

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amazing that this is allowed. surely the parties should have to connect by the same method

People calling in to a Zoom hearing have to know a series of phone commands to navigate the meeting:

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“when a person is placed on mute [by an adjudicator], you cannot unmute yourself to object

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outrageous that anyone would ever be muted for any reason

Tenants and advocates who aren’t lawyers report feeling disoriented, confused, and lacking confidence in the fairness of the proceedings.

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Hearings are scheduled by the type of application as opposed to the region,

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if a landlord has submitted an application to evict a tenant, and the tenant has submitted a separate complaint against the landlord, their two applications get heard separately. This can mean an eviction is ordered before a tenant's concerns are addressed.

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even though there are more adjudicators and fewer applications being heard, the LTB’s backlog has meant that new and adjourned matters are currently being scheduled after seven to eight months, as opposed to the standard timing of about eight weeks.

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Zoom meetings are not end-to-end encrypted by default,

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Zoom collects everything from users’ IP addresses to their job title, and shares that data with third parties

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need to think about the exact structure of the argument, but I feel sure there's something illegal about LTB forcing people to contract with a third party

LTB has launched an inaccessible, glitchy, and unreliable digital portal for submitting evidence and communicating with the other side.

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especially for clients or individuals with language or literacy challenges or individuals with serious mental health concerns.”

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can be filed via email, but only once the tenant pays a fee through an online payment portal.

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may not have a debit or credit card.

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little publicly facing information about the right of low-income parties to file a fee waiver request.

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The LTB has instead decommissioned the entire old network of in-person hearing rooms and offices, including service desks and even fax lines.

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as LTB staff and adjudicators become more familiar with their platforms, engaging with them every day, tenants who may participate only once in their lives are seriously disadvantaged.

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alongside a series of changes by Doug Ford’s provincial government that mean eviction is now particularly devastating.

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our successes have made us a target for short-sighted and ill-informed cuts,”

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passed Bill 184, which allows tenants to be evicted from their homes without a hearing if that tenant is a dollar short or a day late

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exempted units built after November 2018 from rent controls

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LTB staff jobs are becoming more precarious:

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Ford has appointed new adjudicators with high-level connections to the provincial Conservatives, the RCMP, and landlord-side law firms.

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members of activist groups like People’s Defence TO attended LTB hearings, recorded them, and shared the recordings online.

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children to act as translators in negotiations between landlords and their parents,

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introduced legislation that criminalized the recording of hearings, with fines upwards of $25,000.

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cumulative reductions of $452 million for Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).

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researchers like Nemoy Lewis and activist groups like Keep Your Rent have begun to track evictions and corporate ownership of rental housing,

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