Developers skipped the bill on necessary repairs to a Toronto shelter for women and non-binary people fleeing violence, city alleges

The City of Toronto’s claims are “false accusations,” one of the defendants says.

Thestar.com
May 29, 2023
Rachel Mendleson

The City of Toronto has been left to foot the bill for remediation work it undertook to protect a women’s shelter from condo developments on either side, the city alleges.

In a lawsuit filed in Ontario Superior Court, the city claims the companies behind the developments have failed to repay $200,000 it spent to shore up the roof of the city-owned, four-storey building in the Annex neighbourhood that houses the YWCA shelter.

The transformation of the busy stretch of Davenport Rd., near Dupont St., is testing the co-operative vision the city articulated when it announced the creation of the shelter in 2018. Coun. Dianne Saxe (University-Rosedale) said she sees the dispute as a reflection of “intense development pressure,” at a time when the city is under financial strain.

The remediation work, the city says, was required to comply with the province’s building code and withstand the increased snow drift from the taller structures that are replacing the two-storey buildings that used to occupy the lots that bookend the shelter.

The city claims the companies behind the condos signed off on the work, which was finished in 2021, and “agreed that they would fully compensate the City,” but have not done so.

“The expenses incurred by the City ... are damages caused (by the) defendants’ nuisance, negligence, trespass to property, breach of duty, and/or breach of contract,” the lawsuit alleges.

Two companies being sued -- Freed Developments Ltd. and 346 Davenport (Yorkville) Developments Ltd., which both have prolific developer Peter Freed as a director -- have filed a notice in court indicating their intent to defend.

“(The) Freed defendants deny all of the allegations,” lawyer Rob Winterstein told the Star. “As this matter is before the courts, it would not be appropriate to provide any further comments at this time.”

The lawsuit appears to have caught some of the defendants -- which include developers and architects -- by surprise.

“We have no knowledge of these false accusations nor have we been served,” architect Brian Brisbin told the Star in an email.

Doug Hochglaube, CEO of Trolleybus Urban Development, said his company hasn’t been involved with the property since 2015, and also hasn’t been served. EllisDon declined to comment. Raw Design Inc. did not respond. No statements of defence have been filed.

A spokesperson for the City of Toronto, Anthony Toderian, acknowledged the city has not yet served the defendants, but said that it would do so within the legislated timeline.

Toderian said the city would not comment further “as the matter may be litigated in court.”

‘We can’t walk away from this money’
When the city brought the shelter to the Annex, politicians, anti-poverty advocates and notable neighbourhood residents, including author Margaret Atwood and former Gov. General Adrienne Clarkson, cheered the creation of desperately needed emergency housing outside the downtown core.

Ensuring the shelter was “seamlessly” integrated into the community would be “a collective effort,” then-Mayor John Tory said, “which requires the co-operation and the sensitivity of every single Torontonian.”

Saxe, the local councillor, said the remediation work the city undertook at the shelter is not uncommon; in other instances, she said new developments have cut off the cross-breeze that used to flow through smaller city-owned buildings, requiring the city to install air-conditioning units.

“The city is changing really fast, partly because hundreds of thousands of people want to come here every year, and we are scrambling to accommodate them,” she said. “In many ways, it will make the city better, but the process of going through all this construction is really difficult.”

Speaking generally, Saxe said conflicts between the city and developers can arise from miscommunication. She said she is hopeful the city will be able to recoup its losses in this case.

“These are multimillion-dollar developments. These companies need to work with the city on a regular basis. I can’t imagine that they’re going to stiff us for this amount of money, but if they do, the lawsuit will go ahead.”

Noting the $1-billion-dollar budget shortfall the city is facing, she said, “We can’t walk away from this money.”

Shelter recently expanded its capacity
On a recent morning, signs of construction surrounded the skinny brick building on Davenport Rd., where the YWCA operates a refuge for dozens of women and individuals identifying as women or non-binary, who are fleeing violence or are in need of shelter.

On one side, fluorescent-clad workers milled around a palette of materials on the sidewalk outside a towering condo development that appeared to be nearing completion. On the other side, on a large billboard depicting another upscale condo project that is slated to occupy the lot, a red banner declared that it was “50% sold.”

While Nina Gorka, director of shelters and clinical services for the YWCA, said the banging and drilling has occasionally disturbed shelter residents, the organization was aware of the development plans when it moved into the space. She notes that the city also recently renovated the shelter itself to expand its capacity from 56 to 73 beds, work that resulted in temporarily relocating the shelter during the pandemic to Queen St. E.

“I think this is the reality of what it means to share neighbourhoods and to share communities,” she said. “Everybody is just looking for a place to live.”