Internet for All: ACORN Member Testimonies

“I just can’t afford the internet” is a common theme that’s emerging from a series of testimonies ACORN Canada has collected talking to its members across Canada. The testimonies also clearly show that the most vulnerable are being hit the hardest as telecom companies continue to record billion dollar profit. The pandemic has underscored, greater than ever, the need for affordable and reliable internet. 

 

With internet plans ranging from anywhere between 50 to 150 dollars and more, as Corey Daniels, an Ottawa ACORN member says: “Just because the internet is there, doesn’t mean I can access it”. Read this resource to read testimony of Corey and many more ACORN members who are struggling to access the internet.

Internet is an Essential Service

The need for expanding the Federal Government’s Connecting Families to ALL low-income people is greater than ever! Governments – federal and provincial – have called for social/physical distancing during the ongoing health emergency due to COVID-19 but that requires access to the internet for anything and everything anyone can imagine. However, the reality is that not all Canadians can afford the internet. The issue of digital divide cannot be overemphasized, especially during a pandemic like this, as internet becomes a lifeline for most people. 

Through this resource, ACORN Canada calls on the government and CRTC to take some urgent actions to address barriers to digital equity, especially during COVID-19 pandemic.

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Rein in the REITs

Posted on 3rd February, 2021

The federal government is giving huge tax subsidies to billionaire landlords or the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Through this report, we highlight the blliions of dollars that have been lost by way of these sweetheart tax deals and the action that needs to be taken to ensure that affordable housing is developed and maintained. Time to REIN in the REITs!

ACORN Tenant Engagement Report - Retrofits

Successful energy retrofits can specifically benefit residents of low‐income apartment buildings. Programs like TowerWise show that retrofits can lead to a 30% reduction in energy and carbon usage. Energy efficiency programs can also have up to a 2:1 cost‐benefit ratio. Retrofits of low‐income housing can potentially result in the co‐benefits of carbon reduction, energy efficiency, and costs savings, as well as positive health outcomes. On a macroeconomic level, retrofits can reduce the need for government spending on health and energy subsidies, which can be redirected to other types of social spending for low‐income Canadians.

Forced Out: Evictions, Race, and Poverty in Toronto

This study, conducted by the Wellesley Institute, aims to add to the knowledge on evictions in Toronto in three ways. First, it describes the numbers and rates of formal eviction applications in Toronto 2010-2018. Second, it maps their geographic distribution. Third,it correlates formal eviction application filing rates with census tract sociodemographics of renter households from the 2016 Census to uncover who may be at increased risk of eviction. In order to examine these questions, we use administrative data from the Landlord and Tenant Board, and 2016 Census data.

 

Stand Up for Housing in Surrey

Posted on August 6, 2020

This report focuses on the housing crisis in Surrey in BC. Based on the victories secured by BC ACORN members in several other cities in BC, including in Burnaby and New Westminster, the report underscores the need for urgent measures that the city government in Surrey can take to address the existing housing issues and protecting tenants' rights in Surrey.

Read this report to learn how we can win municipally to end the housing crisis in Surrey. 

 

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CCPA: Making Ends Meet: Toronto’s 2015 Living Wage

It has been six years since Toronto’s living wage estimate was calculated at $16.60 in 2008.

Since then, the cost of living has gone up: the cost of child care has risen by 30 per cent; rent has increased by 13 per cent; the cost of public transit has grown by 36 per cent. This report updates Toronto’s living wage to reflect what it takes for two working parents with two children to make ends meet in 2015. It’s based on the needs of a family with two parents and two young children ages 7 and 3. Each of those parents needs to earn $18.52 per hour, and work 37.5 hours per week, in order to afford the basics in life in this very expensive city.

Broadbent Institute: The Wealth Gap

In a new nationwide survey among 3,000 Canadians conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Canada for the Broadbent Institute, Canadians were asked about their perceptions of inequality and the distribution of wealth in Canada. The findings demonstrate that Canadians vastly underestimate how skewed the distribution of wealth actually is and think there should be a much more equitable distribution.

Metcalf Foundation: Better Work: The path to good jobs is through employers

Written by Metcalf Innovation Fellow and labour market policy expert Tom Zizys, the paper examines our under-performing labour market and challenges the popular notion that the threat to good jobs is inevitable.

Better Work chronicles the economic and political changes that have brought us to our current situation. It reconstructs the advent of our global economy and reflects deeply on its effect on employment practices. Central to its thesis is a simple proposition: workers are not a cost to be constrained but, rather, an asset to be invested in.

Among industrialized countries, Canada has the highest proportion of residents with a post-secondary education. Yet we also have the highest rate of degree holders working in jobs earning half the median income or less. We know there are many external factors at play, and that a rise in precarious employment and the widening gap between knowledge sector and entry-level jobs is creating income disparity. But the question remains, are we responding to the emergence of technology, globalization, and increased competitiveness in the most efficient and equitable way? Are our workplace practices, labour market institutions, and the norms and values that shape our economic thinking supporting the best interests of both employers and employees?

Metcalf Foundation: Profiting from the Precarious: How recruitment practices exploit migrant workers

There are over 338,000 migrant workers in Canada. This number has more than doubled since 2006. As Canada increasingly relies on a work force of transnational migrant workers with temporary status, an industry of third-party for-profit recruiters has emerged to match workers with jobs in Canada.

This report exposes how temporary foreign workers are paying thousands of dollars in recruiting fees — equal to as much as two to three years’ wages in their home currency — to work in minimum wage jobs in Ontario.

A People's Budget

The People’s Budget campaign was initiated as a response to the continuing evidence of the failure of the austerity agenda. Austerity measures have had a devastating impact on the people of Ontario, particularly its most vulnerable citizens. When even organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Economic Forum are calling for a reconsideration of the austerity agenda, it is time for Ontario to chart a new course.

Ontario’s 100-day ODSP/OW review: A word of warning from UK Conservative welfare reforms

ACORN members are concerned about what will emerge from the government’s 100-day review. We can look to other countries with Conservative leaders to imagine what the Province’s reforms could look like. In recent years, the UK has implemented a series of social assistance reforms which have contributed to a 169% increase in homelessness since 2010 . Similar reforms could be disastrous for low-income Ontarians.

ACORN Housing Allowance Report

In 2006 the United Nations held a convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Article 28 states: “States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, including adequate food, clothing and housing.”

“Adequate” does not include unhealthy and dangerous housing standards or negligent property owners.

Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms“ guarantees the life, liberty and personal security of all Canadians.”

ACORN MEMBERS DEMAND a housing allowance that guarantees ODSP and OW recipients’ healthy housing where they can freely choose a home that guarantees their personal security from violence and negligent property owners.

The Hidden Epidemic: A Report on Child and Family Poverty in Toronto

The first comprehensive report on child and family poverty in Toronto since 2008 will be released by Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, Social Planning Toronto, Family Service Toronto, Colour of Poverty-Colour of Change, and the Alliance for a Poverty-Free Toronto .

New data in the report shows that Toronto is becoming an increasingly divided city. Where a child is born and raised in Toronto greatly influences their chances of success.

Metcalf Foundation: The “Welfareization” of Disability Incomes in Ontario

Canada’s disability income expenditures are rising at an unsustainable rate and the largest and fastest growing program is social assistance. Nowhere is this more evident than in Ontario where ODSP expenditures increased 44.8% between 2005 and 2010.

This report by Metcalf Innovation Fellow John Stapleton, provides critical insight into the intricate drivers behind the alarming rise of disability income expenditures.

Campaign 2000: 2013 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada

More than two decades have passed since the House of Commons’ unanimous resolution “to seek to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000” and four years after the entire House of Commons voted to “develop an immediate plan to end poverty for all in Canada.” Neither the promised poverty elimination nor plans have materialized.

ACORN Votes: The People's Platform Responses

ACORN Canada, founded in 2004, is a grassroots membership based organization that has rapidly grown into one of the country's most effective voices for low- and moderate-income Canadians.  With over 130,000 members in 22 chapters in 9 cities across the country, our central purpose is to effectively represent and champion the interests of Canada's low- and moderate-income urban citizens on the critical issues of social and economic justice.

ACORN members have been conducting a number of campaigns, both at the federal and provincial level. ACORN Canada is a multi-issue organization, as a result, we have a range of campaigns that have emerged from community organizing around the issues that affect the lives of low and moderate income communities.  This document captures the main campaigns that we continue to fight for, at the federal level. 
 

ACORN Canada's submission to CMHC's rights-based approach to housing consultation

By introducing a National Housing Strategy (NHS) and making a commitment to a rights-based approach to housing, the Federal Government is taking a significant step towards tackling Canada’s housing crisis. ACORN members welcome this national plan. Yet, we acknowledge that there is a long way to go to overcome the systemic issues that have led to so many homeless and underhoused Canadians. 

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