Thursday December 23rd marks the thirty-second anniversary of the Rupert Hotel fire and the loss of ten lives.
The Rupert was located at 182 Parliament Street close to Queen Street East. Once an upscale hotel, the Rupert, while licensed, was overcrowded and badly maintained.A plaque erected at the site notes that the fire "sparked action by municipal and provincial governments and community organizations to improve conditions in rooming houses."
It did, for a time. In the years following the tragedy, about 500 units of Toronto housing were created or upgraded to meet or exceed the already existing standards. Not long after the plaque was installed, though, the funding that supported the upgrades and advocacy ended.
What has happened since then?
Not much.
Since amalgamation Toronto has had two rules on rooming houses. They are legal in the old City of Toronto and in parts of Etobicoke and East York. Being legal means they are subject to all kinds of regulations.
But in Scarborough, North York and York, rooming houses are strictly illegal. Those living illegally in these parts of Toronto can be evicted.
City staff say there are about 1,000 rooming houses in the city. According to a recent article in Now Magazine there are likely many more.
“Legalizing them across the city would protect vulnerable tenants and create a housing solution that can be put into place now, without large investments in infrastructure.”*
There were fires at 69 illegal rooming houses in the Toronto area between 2013 and 2017 according to the Fire Marshal. At a meeting in October 2021 as City Council delayed once again taking action on licensing, it was reported that there have been 16 fatal rooming housing fires in Toronto between 2010 and 2020 and 14 fatalities were in unlicensed rooming houses.
All that is needed is political will to create and sustain more safe affordable housing.
*Jin Huh, Douglas Kwan, and Sean Meagher @nowtoronto October 4, 2021
Gordon was sorry
but it was tough keeping warm
and he’d had some to drink
so setting fire to those papers
on the floor in the middle
of his second-floor room
made some kind of sense.
At the Rupert Hotel,
a three-storey brick walk up
in a licensed city rooming house
off Queen Street East
at Parliament
those with few options
and few dollars could exist,
in a way.
Gordon’s warming fire soon leapt out of control
flames and choking smoke filling the corridors.
As the fire gained full possession of the hallways
that license pinned to the wall
wasn’t worth the paper
it was printed on
as far as the protection it afforded
those 31 tenants
at the Rupert
that wintry December night.
A sprinkler system might have helped;
could have halted the fire’s progress.
And the tenants could have taken some action
if the alarm system had been operable
or if fire extinguishers
stored in the basement were reachable.
Seventeen long minutes passed
before someone called 911.
When firefighters arrived
the whole building was enveloped.
Flames leapt out of top floor windows.
Fearless firefighters using ladders forced their way
into the searing heat of the second floor.
Later a witness called it
“A Vision out of Hell.”
As the fire raged people screamed,
cried out for friends.
It took six hours and eighteen crews
to subdue the blaze.
Thankfully, some tenants were saved
and many escaped.
For days crews chopped through ice
and sifted through debris to locate bodies.
They found nine men
and a woman who had returned to the building
to help a friend.
Donna Marie Cann died,
as the others had
from heavy smoke inhalation.
Soon an inquest was held.
Recommendations were made
new rules created
regulations established
housing planned.
After a while all was forgotten.
Rules and regulations lapsed,
were ignored or opposed
and the programs ended.
In the city today austerity policies
compel people to rent rooms
in perilous and dangerous buildings.
Many flee the downtown
to illegal suburban homes
where life is cheaper.
Bob Wood, 2020
