TCHC lowers man's ceiling below city standards

A Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) resident is speaking out after the social housing agency lowered the ceiling in part of his apartment to less than seven feet — well below the city's regulatory standard.

"It's extremely claustrophobic," Robbie James told CBC Toronto. "It's very dark. It has the atmosphere of a basement boiler room."

In an email, TCHC said the change was necessary to accommodate ductwork for a heat pump system it's installing in the 17-storey Asquith Avenue building.

The units already had lowered ceilings due to existing ductwork, the agency said, but the heat pumps required a further drop, putting the new ceiling heights well below the city's minimum.

TCHC said it got special permission from the city for the unorthodox height. Provincial building regulations say ceilings can't be built lower than about 7.6 ft, or 2300 mm. But in order to install the heat pumps, the city granted a TCHC to go lower than 7 ft. 

City staff have not yet responded to questions about why an exemption was granted.

The Asquith Avenue building, in the neighbourhood of Bloor and Yonge, is the third TCHC building to have heat pumps installed. TCHC says all 192 units will have the pumps installed, of which 74 will require new lower ceilings. 

TCHC said two similar projects planned to begin later this year won't require lower ceilings.

Heat pumps are electrical motors that pump hot air out of a living space in summer and cooler air in winter. They are "very efficient heating and cooling systems and can significantly reduce your energy costs," according to Natural Resources Canada's website.

However, existing ductwork often has to be retrofitted to accommodate the new system, which can mean renovations — as is the case at 40 Asquith Ave.

Even beyond Toronto Community Housing, a tenant advocate says renovations to install green technology, such as heat pumps or energy efficient windows, are an increasing source of friction between landlords and tenants.

"We're seeing this en masse," said Geordie Dent, executive director of the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations. 

"Landlords are continuously trying to increase their profits, continuously trying to reduce their costs, and this is one of the ways they do it," he said.

After the inconvenience of construction, Dent says tenants are often then told they'll have to pay higher rent since their units have been upgraded.