Toronto Community Housing apartment tenants can no longer access their building’s televised “lobby channel” — what some claim is a vital security feature — unless they purchase a Rogers cable subscription.

The communications company has been upgrading its cable networks at more than 200 TCHC apartment properties since March. Residents who watched the live video feed to monitor neighbours and visitors now have to pay about $25 per month to access it as part of a Rogers cable package, on top of a $5.49 hardware rental fee for a digital box.

Arlene Goneau, who lives in a TCHC apartment on Jane St., unexpectedly lost access to the “lobby channel” after switching cable providers from Rogers to Bell.

“TCHC should have told us you have to be with Rogers in order to see the camera,” the 59-year-old told the Star. “I live here by myself, my husband passed away a while ago and my daughter is at work most of the time.

“I don’t want to let anyone in if I can’t see them.”

Donna Borden, a TCHC tenant and ACORN representative, told the Star the lobby channel “is a must” for apartment tenants because it provides an extra level of security and deters would-be criminals.

“It’s ridiculous that TCHC owns these cameras but doesn’t have the power to control who can access it,” she said. “Many tenants are low income and don’t have the money to pay extra for cable.”

TCHC spokesperson Lisa Murray said, “While we empathize with our tenants who have been affected, this is unfortunately not within our control.”

Prior to this upgrade, Murray said anyone could access the lobby camera, with or without a cable subscription.

The open access, however, was never intentional. It was a relic of the old analogue technology that inadvertently let anyone with a television and coaxial cable access the channel.

“We have chosen to invest in technology that allows us to access a building’s security camera feed and provide a lobby channel for our customers in many large apartment and condominium buildings, including some owned by Toronto Community Housing,” said Aaron Lazarus, a Rogers Communications spokesperson.

“Any company can make these investments.”

Meanwhile, a Bell spokesperson confirmed that tenants who subscribe to its TV service are unable to access the feed, but the company “is looking at the possibility of adding the capability in future.”

In Goneau’s case, her home phone is broken so she’s unable to properly use her building’s audio intercom system, either. Losing access to the camera feed is worrying, she said, because uninvited guests have visited her building before.

Recently she came across a woman sleeping and washing herself in the utility room. “She had a bath in the laundry tub,” Goneau said. “I told her if she didn’t leave I was going to call security.”

Although rent for TCHC tenants does not include cable, Murray said the agency has reached out to Rogers to discuss potential ways residents can regain access to the channel. In the interim, staff are placing information posters in all affected buildings to notify tenants of the change.

“Given the apparent importance of the system to the tenants, one might expect that TCHC might make efforts to make an arrangement with Rogers to continue to make the channel camera feed accessible to all tenants without the necessity of subscribing to a complete cable service,” said Michael Janigan, of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. “Similarly, it would seem to be good public relations for Rogers to attempt to find a technical fix that would accomplish the same purpose.”

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Separate from the lobby cameras, the TCHC also has 6,000 security cameras installed in both exterior and interior locations across the city.

Murray said the housing provider is in the midst of replacing all of its older analogue cameras with high-resolution digital models by 2020. It has already invested $6 million this year alone to overhaul 1,500 cameras in its security surveillance system.

These new cameras are expected to provide authorities with clearer, less grainy footage, even at night.

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