On May 21, members from 230 Fightback, York South-Weston Tenant Union and other grassroots organizations joined Parkdale Housing Justice Network (PHJN) for a planned action at the downtown Toronto headquarters of KingSett Capital, a private equity real estate investment firm with $18 billion in capital assets.
The purpose of the demonstration was to demand that KingSett end their plans to develop a luxury 18 storey condominium in the heart of Parkdale at 1304-1318 King Street West and 143-145 Cowan Avenue that would contribute to the gentrification and displacement of community members. According to PHJN, the plan was to enter Scotia Plaza and take the elevators up to the offices of KingSett where the organizers would directly confront the firm with a letter outlining their demands.
What transpired upon stepping foot in the plaza was an immediate encounter with security, who, in their objective of prioritizing the well-being of billionaire private equity firms over human lives, violently harassed and prevented protestors from entering the elevators. Within minutes, back-up security was present to act as a further barricade to the lifts and the main security personnel resorted to calling the police.
Undeterred by such escalation, members of PHJN displayed their banner and began distributing pamphlets for their cause while chanting for more social housing and that Parkdale is not for sale. The members then joined 230 Fightback in shutting down the entire space of the elevators, demanding that they would not leave until they speak to a representative of KingSett Capital.
The foundations of on the ground resistance against gentrification cannot be fully understood without contextualizing the current status of housing affordability in Toronto. Such material conditions give rise to grassroots tenant organizing that PHJN epitomizes in their fight for social housing in their community.
Housing financialization in Toronto
Housing development in Toronto during the 21st century can be understood as a continuation of neoliberal ideology that favours the dismantling of social housing in exchange for large investment in the private sector market. Federal funding for housing remains significantly lower than what is afforded to private equity firms, whose objective is profit above all else. This has resulted in a surge in rental costs and the diminishment of housing affordability across the country. In 93% of all Canadian neighbourhoods, a person working minimum wage cannot afford an average one bedroom apartment.
Firms such as KingSett capital represent what academics designate as the ongoing financialization of housing, where housing is treated as a commodity and managers are beholden to their shareholders to extract maximum value from their investments. This means that financial firms are even more incentivized than private landlords to pursue aggressive measures seeking returns, or else face financial decline. What results is the further de-prioritization of tenant protections such as rent control alongside the increased risk of eviction, dispossession and displacement of renters. All of which disproportionately affect poor, racialized communities of colour.
In Toronto, Canada’s biggest financial firms purchased 90% of the available rental stock in 2020. KingSett has 7,985 rental units in development across the city, including the 18 storey residential building planned for the north east corner of King street and Cowan avenue. Similarly, KingSett is planning a 47 storey condominium at 214-230 Sherbourne, the development that 230 Fightback is resisting against.
PHJN’s fight
PHJN arose in response to KingSett’s planned development on King and Cowan. In May 2024, the city’s rejection for the original proposal was influenced by the significant pushback from Parkdale residents, elected officials and community groups concerned with the increased gentrification that would come with the luxury condo. PHJN’s petition that had received over 1500 signatures was directly cited in the city’s reasoning for refusing the application. A few months later in September, over 100 community members gathered for a barbeque in Parkdale to celebrate in what felt like a win.
In response to their rejected proposal, however, KingSett appealed the decision to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT), the province’s adjudicator when it comes to resolving matters related to land disputes. According to tenant organizing groups such as PHJN, the OLT is notoriously pro-developer. The main demand for PHJN then came for KingSett Capital to drop the appeal.
While the appeal hearing with the city was expected to be in June 2025, PHJN obtained information from the City Planner’s Office that KingSett had reached a settlement with the city of Toronto on April 23rd, 2025 during a city council meeting. Not only was there no community consultation on the settlement decision but the community was not notified at all that it happened.
The settlement does not address the fact that the proposed luxury condo represents overdevelopment in the context of the surrounding area on King and Cowan, which consists mainly of lower scale existing housing. Nor does it comply with the city’s initial concern of it being placed in a neighbourhood that is “not located within a strategic growth area.” But perhaps most of all, the settlement does not address the fact that the KingSett development does not include any form of affordable housing geared to the working class people of Parkdale. Furthermore, when talking with PHJN members at the site, they said that the tenants of the current property had yet to be contacted by KingSett regarding rental housing demolition applications. These are the conditions that led to the action at the KingSett headquarters on May 21st.
Sites of resistance
As members held banners blocking the entrance of the elevators, chanted for social housing and distributed pamphlets outlining the shortcomings of the settlement, hundreds of people passed by the demonstration displaying various ranges of emotion.
Some people, mainly informal wearing business men and women, ignored the protest all together in their likely desire to avoid confronting the collateral impacts on working class people that results from the actions of the companies they work for. Others however watched curiously from a distance, and some even engaged with the members to discuss the information on the pamphlets and what they could do to help. One construction worker, as he was taking the elevator up to the second floor, shouted “hell yeah, fuck gentrification!” as he saw PHJN’s banner stating that Parkdale is not for sale.
Amidst the presence of 8 police officers and a cluster of security, it was eventually negotiated that one member of PHJN could go up to the offices of KingSett and talk to Bill Logar, the Chief Asset Management Officer of the firm. In line with upholding profit and the interests of capital, Logar simply regurgitated cliche talking points in an attempt to deflect from the demands of PHJN, saying that KingSett just “can’t build things for free” and that he and the shareholders of the company “work hard”. Nevertheless, the letter was delivered and the tenant organizers succeeded in disrupting the status quo at Scotia Plaza, ultimately creating a site of resistance against gentrification in Parkdale.
PHJN, alongside 230 Fightback and York South-Weston Tenant Union, are part of a growing coalition of organizations fighting back against the financialization of housing in Toronto. All three groups are part of the organizing for the upcoming People’s March for Housing Justice Action on June 14, where the actions of firms such as KingSett capital will continue to be disrupted through on the ground resistance and grassroots tenant organizing. The ultimate end goal is the implementation of tenant-controlled social housing, where housing is properly treated not as a commodity but as a human right affordable for all.
Join the People’s March for Housing Justice on June 14th at 1:00pm at 214-230 Sherbourne St (Dundas & Sherbourne). There will be a community lunch followed by a rally and march to the Financial District to protest the country’s largest private developers.
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