Island Park Towers - Ottawa, Ontario

Juliette

I KNOW IT'S LONG, BUT PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU CONSIDER MOVING HERE!

UPDATE – SEPTEMBER 2025
Seriously, if you're reading this, do not move here. Living in this building has completely destroyed my mental health. I have never been so miserable, anxious, and depressed. Every week brings a new nightmare courtesy of Homestead.

Their latest horror? Forcing new thermostats into every unit — so they can lock the temperature range. They now control how hot or cold you're allowed to be in your own home. The installation involves RIPPING up baseboards to rewire the radiators — and of course, they leave behind an absolute mess. No cleanup, no respect for your home. Just more damage, more dust, more chaos.

This summer, there was massive flooding in the building due to old, poorly maintained pipes that are constantly bursting. An entire stack of units was flooded from top to bottom (including the hallways), displacing multiple tenants. Homestead refused to take any responsibility — offering no support, no alternative accommodations, and no compensation for those forced out of their homes. Just silence and indifference while people dealt with water damage, mold, and lost belongings.

ORIGINAL REVIEW
These buildings — and Homestead in general — are a disaster. I'm absolutely miserable living here but can't afford to leave.

Everything is falling apart. Contractors do rushed, sloppy jobs (see photos of my bathroom ceiling and a huge hole they “patched” like amateurs). Windows are crumbling and improperly sealed — rain pours in, and in winter, ice forms inside the unit. When it melts, it warps the flooring and causes mold.

There’s mold on the radiators. If you mention it to management, they tell you to scrub it with bleach and a toothbrush. Dripping bleach into your heating system. Truly unsafe and absurd.

BED BUGS. Roaches. Silverfish. MY UNIT HAS HAD BEDBUGS TWICE. The infestation spreads unit to unit and Homestead refuses to take meaningful action. They'll spray your unit if you beg, but don’t treat adjacent ones (which is what needs to be done in apartment buildings) — so of course, the bugs return. They travel through walls, vents, even electrical outlets.

They advertise AC, but it barely works. When it does, it's only for 2 weeks a year. If the temperature outside dips below 20°C, they shut it off — even in a heatwave. And it doesn’t shut off automatically — you have to wake up in the night to manually turn it off, or it starts blowing hot air instead. Hot air. In summer. Inside units that reach over 40°C. To make it worse, Homestead has now screwed windows shut, limiting how much you can open them — so even fresh air isn’t an option anymore.

They’ve now started charging for visitor parking — even though my lease says it’s free. Just another cash grab.

They do nothing to enforce their “no smoking” policy. Tenants smoke weed and cigarettes in the hallways and on balconies. Because the ventilation system is ancient, the smoke floods into units. Even with windows closed, the broken seals let the stench in.

The property manager and so-called “community manager” are completely unresponsive and useless. Emails go unanswered. You can send multiple follow-ups about urgent issues (like flooding, pest infestations, or broken AC), and still get ignored.

This place is hell on earth. I've never felt so trapped or helpless in my own home. The constant construction noise, unbearable heat, toxic air, infestations, and complete disregard for residents' well-being...

Do yourself a favour: RUN. Don’t sign a lease here. You will regret it. The staff try to reel you in by showing off units that look freshly renovated and “nice” on the surface. What they don’t show you is the bed bug infestation hiding in the baseboards, the roaches under the kitchen sink, or the fact that those renovations are cheap and purely cosmetic. Within a month, everything starts falling apart. Take a look through the photos I’ve attached — they show just a glimpse of the nightmare it is to live here. SAVE YOURSELF. Don't make the same mistake I did.

Luc

I have been living at 185 Clearview Avenue for 10 years. Homestead has been the landlord for 3 for those 10. Landlord staff have been very responsive. When I have a question or something that needs looking after, they respond quickly, and Brian, the building attendant takes care of issues in a very timely manner, he's very friendly, and courteous, and professional, and makes sure that the work is done get done. All the staff are very polite, including the rental office staff and Gloria responsible for cleanning our building 185 Clearview Avenue. She does a wonderful job and is always very friendly. The landscaping is always well maintained. They've really made my living arrangements very pleasant. I have nothing but a positive experience living here.
Thank you Homestead

claud

DO NOT MOVE HERE!
Homestead is a ruthless and bloodsucking company, only caring about money, not your comfort!! There is black mold, huge spiders, ceilings crumbling, NO A/C (even though it is included in the lease), and parking theft, which they do absolutely nothing about! Constant fire alarms for no reason, I lived on the 26th floor so it was not fun to go down each and every time. They have no consideration of their tenants, as when you put a maintenance request, 90% of the time do the bare minimum to fix the issue the proceed to say they cannot do anything further (which is a LIE). They hardly have any staff, which have to work for all 3 buildings, so it can be difficult to get a hold of anyone.

My car got towed from the parking lot as there was a double booking of my spot, and it took them a year to reimburse the towing costs. I lost a day at work and my tire had a nail lodged in it from the towing, which they did not care about either.

Moving out of this place has been the best decision of my life this far. If you move here, be ready for an extremely hot unit, horrible maintenance, and little to no care about your well being from the company.

Rob S.

Had an appointment confirmed last week by phone to view units Sunday 10am, July 20.

Was there on time. No one showed up. Called office and no answer. Called super, no answer. Wasted a chunk out of my Sunday morning to get there - total waste of time.

No follow up, nothing, just a complete ghost no show. Will never be back and it’s probably a sign this place is terrible.

Ryan T.

This place is one inconvenience after another. Construction projects that seem to have delay after delay resulting in living within a construction zones for months on end while paying full rent, a heating system that makes your apartment unbearably hot when it’s plus 20 in October, constant leaking ceiling in the laundry room, unruly tenants that they take almost two years to get rid of and the list goes on. If you’re looking at renting I’d avoid this place at all costs. It is miserable here.

Christopher L.

They promote air conditioning and charge for accordingly but they're VERY selective about when they turn it on. As soon as the temperature hits 20 degrees (ie. at night) they turn it off and say 'open your windows'. Well, my apartment without A/C is a good 10 degrees hotter than the outside air temperature. My one opening window only opens about a foot and it does NOT cool down the apartment but just introduces more humidity into the space. I can't sleep nights like that and it's harming my performance at work and reducing my income.

They also ruined many aspects of the building and its once-beautiful 1960's brutalist design by painting the exposed concrete white and gutting the lobby in favour of a very-annoying rental office that reminds me of the dystopian institution in which I live.

I also don't appreciate having the staff march through my apartment many times a year for "inspections".

The whole thing is incredibly depressing and I really caution against this place.

Ale R.

Area is very nice, apartment itself is not bad, but HOMESTEAD is a horrible company! I had to leave my apartment with my pet because of their negligence. My apartment is unliveable, 40 degrees inside. They said they would start maintenance for the AC (which is an amenity we pay for) weeks ago. Long behold they wait until it's 30 degrees to start maintenance and then say chiller is broken! Dealing with them it's ridiculous. They don't care about your well being. Their solution is "go outside" which is HOT, or "Sorry for the inconvenience". They are not proactive, at all.

mary B.

reasons why not to move here:
1, The building was on fire today and all residents (prisoners) had to evacuate
2, silver fish, large spiders, beetles, and roaches. (bugs literally have came out of the sink drain)
3, communal, laundry machines are always dirty, literally covered in lint dirt and human and pet hair
4, the heat is way too hot during winter time, hallways actually feel like a sauna
5, poorly done, renovations, chipping paint, windows leak.
6, from Spring to early fall extremely hot they don’t know how to turn on the ac, and when they do, it’s never enough so be prepared to spend $$$$ on your own window air conditioning units if you want to survive.
7, the building has asbestos, also if you look inside heating unit vents you will see black mold and black dust.