The Rent Bank program first started at Neighbourhood Information Post in 1999. With Municipal Governmental assistance, they provide loans to approximately 100 families each month. While Neighbourhood Information Post hosts the Rent Bank specifically to residents in the Regent Park and downtown Toronto area, Toronto Rent Bank is a joint collaboration between six other agencies across neighbourhoods in Toronto. The Rent Bank has few requirements for eligibility: applicants must be living in the city of Toronto, or, if they are moving, their new residence must be located in Toronto. Applicants cannot be Social Assistance clients, their household should be within low-income guidelines and be paying market-level rent.

Since the pandemic reached Toronto in March, there has been many changes to the application process at the Rent Bank. In efforts to minimize social interaction, in-person meetings and signed forms are no longer being used. Instead, there is a main hotline- (416)-397-7368- that will direct you to neighbourhood branches and local Rent Banks that will assist further in the application process. The rest of the application process is completed entirely on-phone and online. Any loans given past February 2020 are given a repayment deferral of up to a year, which greatly helps applicants that have joined due to job loss. The lowest repayment rate is currently $25/month, and the highest loans are $4000/up to 3 months rent.

By Nate Gurarie  

(Nate is a summer journalist with the FOCUS Media Arts Centre)