A Toronto Man Has Been Denied Subsidized Housing Because He’s Not Muslim

Prospective residents of subsidized housing in Toronto must meet certain criteria to be eligible for rent-geared-to-income accommodation.

Being Muslim is not one of them.

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Yet, despite provincial law that prevents renters from being denied housing on the basis of religion, 21-year-old Toronto resident Austin Lewis recently received a letter from Housing Connections that notified him that he had been removed from the waiting list of an apartment on Finch Avenue because he is not Muslim.

The letter reads, in part: “The vision of this community includes providing housing for households in which at least one person is a member of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at. This means if none of the individuals of your household are a member … you will be removed from the waiting list.”

The building is operated by Ahmadiyya Abode of Peace and, aside from a property description that boasts “a prayer room to accommodate 250 persons facing Mecca,” does not otherwise advertise as a Muslim-only property.

Here’s where things get tricky: according to the City of Toronto, Ahmadiyya is legally able to determine occupancy on the basis of religion.

“Ahmadiyya has received approval under Council authority to enter into an Agreement to establish a Mandate to restrict tenancy to ‘members of the Muslim Jama’at’ in accordance with the requirements approved by City Council in November 2002. The Agreement to Establish a Mandate has been executed by both parties and has a five year term with an effective date of Jan 1, 2015,” according to John Gosgnach, communications manager for the City of Toronto.

This same provision allows other groups – seniors, artists, aboriginal, homeless/hard-to-house, individuals with AIDS and ethnic and religious groups including Christian and individuals of Lithuanian, Macedonian, Greek, Chinese, Hungarian and German origin, for example – to restrict their housing to individuals belonging to an identifiable association.

Whether provincial law or a City Council Mandate possesses greater authority is still unclear, though Shane Martinez, a Toronto criminal defence lawyer who specializes in human rights issues, believes Lewis has a pretty strong case.

“The purpose of the Human Rights Code in Ontario is to make sure people feel as though they are part of the community and that their dignity and their worth is protected,” he says.

Further explanation by Gosnach, however, suggests that the Ontario Human Rights Code makes it equally possible to offer housing for a very specific group of people: “the housing provider must provide the City with a legal opinion that they are meeting the requirements of Section 18 of the Ontario Human Rights Code by providing services and facilities to support the members of the identifiable ethnic or religious group.”

Lewis, meanwhile, who already faces an uphill battle to find accommodation on account of a disability, just wants a place to live.

“People are people, they do what they do: they can pray to a tree, I don’t care, it doesn’t impact me,” he says.

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