DRUGGIE TENANTS CAN BE GIVEN BOOT AFTER 10 DAYS

TORONTO - The amount of time a tenant has to move out after being
evicted for illegal drug activity will be halved, to 10 days from 20,
under new Ontario government regulations.

"We are taking clear action to provide tenants with safer homes and
neighbourhoods," Housing Minister Chris Hodgson said yesterday.

Under the amendment, "illegal drug activity" is defined as
"production, trafficking or possession for the purposes of
trafficking" of illegal drugs.

Simple possession of illegal drugs is not being targeted under the
amendment, Hodgson said.

But tenants' rights advocates say the amendment is bad news for the
province's renters.

"The amendment will be just another vehicle to evict tenants," said
Sandy Hutchens, a paralegal of 18 years who runs Tenants Rights Co.,
which handles about 700 tenant-landlord cases each month.

"It's deporable to say the least."

Hutchens' biggest complaint is that tenants don't have to be
criminally charged to be evicted from their homes.