Property Manager’s Guides to MCS

From the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA):

Creating Healthy Housing: Guidelines for Multi-Unit Housing Providers (7pg PDF)

Environmental Sensitivities and Housing

“Every year, CERA receives a significant number of calls from tenants being made ill from the poor indoor air quality in their apartment buildings. Most of these individuals suffer from environmental sensitivities and are particularly sensitive to contaminants in the air. With funding assistance from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, CERA recently launched HomeSafe, an initiative to educate tenants and multi-unit housing providers on strategies to improve indoor air quality and create healthier living environments.”

The resources section has some excellent documents that are designed to “help landlords, property managers, and co-operative and condominium boards of directors reduce the health impacts associated with multi-unit housing and create living environments that are as safe and “green” as possible… and make their properties more attractive…”

For example:

“Creating Healthy Apartments: What You Need to Know” pamphlet.
English (PDF)
Also available in French Arabic Chinese Punjabi Russian Spanish Tamil Urdu

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Creating Healthy Housing: Guidelines for Multi-Unit Housing Providers English (7 page PDF) Also available in French

Materials used in multi-unit housing release pollutants into the air that can be very unhealthy. These pollutants – even in small quantities – can lead to serious health problems for children, pregnant women, people with weakened immune or respiratory systems, and those living with environmental sensitivities. …

The following section provides suggestions on how to make your buildings
healthier. These guidelines should be used in conjunction with Creating Healthy
Multi-Unit Housing: A Resource Guide which provides a more detailed discussion
of safer building and maintenance products and procedures. …

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Creating Healthy Multi-Unit Housing: A Resource Guide (48 pages) PDF

CREATING HEALTHY MULTI-UNIT HOUSING A Resource Guide is designed for residential landlords, co-operative and condominium boards of directors, property managers, superintendents and others working in the multi-unit housing sector to complement CERA’s Guidelines for Creating Healthy Multi-Unit Housing. In the following pages you will find a wide variety of information and resources on how to improve the indoor air quality in residential buildings and make them environmentally safer for residents. …

These and other resources for healthier buildings and MCS/ES housing can be found at: http://www.equalityrights.org/cera/?page_id=674

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Also see:

“Housing as a Medical Necessity” 

http://www.equalityrights.org/cera/?p=1004

…”For people living with extreme environmental sensitivities, having appropriate, “healthy” housing can mean the difference between being able to live an independent, full life, and being totally disabled.”…

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The Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) is the only organization in Canada dedicated to promoting human rights in housing and ending housing discrimination.

If you have experienced discrimination in housing, or would like more information about CERA and their programs, please contact them:

CERA – Toronto
340 College Street, Suite 215, Box 23, Toronto, ON M5T 3A9 Canada
tel: 1.416.944.0087 OR 1.800.263.1139
fax: 1.416.944.1803

Outside Toronto: 1.800.263.1139
fax: 1.416.944.1803
cera@equalityrights.org

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Many thanks to CERA and everyone who helped with the creation of these guides.

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