On April 18th, hundreds of tenants gathered inside a school cafeteria to help shape Toronto’s first city-wide tenant’s union – the TTU. There were elections, robust policy discussions and plenty of stories from tenants. Blueprints of Disruption was there to capture it all, and provide analysis afterwards.

On-scene interviews from inside the Toronto Tenant Union’s founding Convention start off with Ricardo Tranjan, housing policy expert and author of The Tenant Class. Tranjan talks about his expectations for the day, and his excitement at the prospect of “taking another step” towards building the tenant class consciousness he wrote about in his book.

There are also interviews with tenant organizers from different buildings across the city – including Jerry and Steve from 240 Markland. They talk about their saga with an REIT buying their building, applying for five consecutive above-guideline rent increases (AGIs) and trying to push legacy tenants out of the building.

We also interview Bridgette, a resident of the Caseway building – outside of which convention participants rallied after the day’s more official proceedings. She talks about why its been such a battle with their landlord, and how she felt about being a part of something bigger.

Organizers of the event, and leaders within the ‘parent’ organizations of the TTU also took time to speak with Santiago and Jessa as things wrapped up.

Aniket Kali, formerly of Climate Justice Toronto, and Bruno Dobrusin of YSW Tenants Union talk about their new roles (both elected during the Convention), the scaling up of their models, and their vision for the TTU in the years to come.

Hosted and Produced by: Jessa McLean and Santiago Helou Quintero

Call to Action: Sign up for TTU Orientation on May 9th, 2026

Related Episodes:

• Blueprints of a Rent Strike (July 2023)
• Shifting Gears: Climate Justice Toronto (Sept 2024) CJTO on their decision to transition towards tenant organizing as a means to fight climate change.
• We also have a TENANT POWER PLAYLIST with more stories of neighbours organizing.

More Resources:

• Can the new Toronto Tenant Union change the tired housing debate? – Ricardo Tranjan for Canadian Dimension
• Who Controls Toronto? The People or Developers? - ACORN Report
• Hamilton moves to strengthen renoviction bylaw - via CBC
• Rent Strikes! - The Grind Magazine
• Canada: How Tenants Fought Back- via Progressive International

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