After nearly a year of trying to get the city’s attention, Afia Adam was finally told officials would step in to improve her deteriorating living conditions in a Toronto public housing unit.
Adam was in tears as she took a CTV News crew around her Moss Park townhouse, showing them extensive damage caused by a leaky ceiling.
The home, located near Shuter and Jarvis streets, features a hole in her kitchen ceiling, caused by water dripping from the upstairs bathroom. Adam told CTV News each time one of her six children take a shower, water leaks all over her kitchen, causing the electricity to short out. There is water damage in other parts of the home as well.
The woman tearfully explained her situation, saying she has been trying to get the building’s superintendant to fix the problem for the last year.
“They say, ‘Oh, we don’t have money. It costs too much, you have to wait,’” she said.
“It drops on the kids while they are sleeping and there is mold too,” she said. “Everytime bedroom is getting wet, so I get books and I make them sleep on the mattress but my kids in the morning cry and say, ‘Why do we have to live like this?’”
Adam is also dealing with physical injuries after slipping on the water in her apartment. While the news crew was at her home, the fire detector went off for no reason – something that happens quite frequently throughout the day, she said.
When asked what she would say to those in charge at the Toronto Community Housing Corp., she continued to cry.
“I’d tell him, if you have kids, do you like to be like this? Because I’m tired, cold…come fix, come fix. I can’t do nothing.”
The CEO of TCHC was alerted to Adam’s situation after he held a press conference Thursday afternoon to address the organization’s eviction strategy.
After Eugene Jones saw pictures of the derelict apartment, he arranged to visit Adam’s home later in the afternoon.
After touring the home, he came out and was visibly upset, immediately placing a call, asking for the family to be moved into a suitable dwelling as soon as possible and arranging for them to have a working fridge and stove in the meantime.
Jones said the problem is a direct result of people not doing their job.
“Staff didn’t do anything or they probably tried do something and no one listened to them and they just gave up,” he said. “So until my residents call or call to the news media it doesn't matter, it’s on my watch and that's what I do. Now I could have sent a couple of staff members here but they don't see it like I see it and I'm trying to get everyone to understand this is unacceptable.”
Jones said he is prepared to personally deal with any situation where a tenant has been unable to receive help from staff.
With files from CTV Toronto reporter Scott Lightfoot.
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