The Ford government has formally brought in rules that will allow social housing providers to reject applications from tenants, who’ve been evicted for criminal activity.

Housing and Municpal Affairs Minister Steve Clark says the province’s more than 1,000 community housing providers, including Toronto Community Housing Corporation, have the authority to develop their own policies on how to deal with prospective tenants who’ve previously been evicted for criminal activity.

Toronto Mayor John Tory lobbied for the change and says the message is clear.

”No longer will these people be able to take advantage of this vital public service and make life less safe for others,” added Tory.

”There are stories that people could tell you. These are true stories of instances in which people are moving back into these buildings, having been evicted for serious criminal behaviour and resume a life that terrorizes the way of life for senior citizens and others, who don’t know how to deal and don’t have the tools in fact, to deal with this kind of thing.

More than 250,000 families live in community housing in Ontario.