Toronto ACORN members have fought a multi-year campaign to improve rental apartment standards for tenants.
Posted December 5, 2019
This is a blog post written by Toronto ACORN member and East York ACORN Chair Alejandra Ruiz Vargas
On November 26th & 27th over 20 ACORN members made it down to Toronto City Hall at 9 AM to witness, pressure and ensure that tenants' right to safe and healthy housing was enforced by our politicians.
Council has voted unanimously in favour of beefing up its RentSafeTO program in an effort to keep landlords more accountable for keeping buildings in good repair.
Landlords ignore the RentSafeTO program and changes won't work, tenant says
Landlords in Toronto will have to pay a fee to the city if they fail to provide for tenants if the buildings they live in are evacuated due to fire, flood or other service disruptions — part of a suite of changes adopted by city council on Wednesday strengthening tenant rights.
Waterfront Toronto, Sidewalk’s government partner, agreed last month to let the urban-planning company keep developing plans for the neighbourhood on a smaller scale than it wanted.
CTV News coverage of the North York building fire
On Wednesday November 20th, a dozen ACORN members joined tenants from across Toronto to demand the city do more to protect tenants, protect their homes and protect affordable housing.
ACORN members fill the room and gave 5 deputations about the many reasons why low and moderate income people in Toronto can't wait any longer for affordable housing.
More than two years after council signed off on new rules to protect renters the city is “failing” in their promise to improve conditions for tenants, said a city councillor who led the push for the RentSafe program.