ACORN Canada’s Protect Your Privacy-Online! Educational Program

This evaluation reports on the outcomes of ACORN Canada’s Protect Your Privacy-Online! project, funded by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. This project consists of three workshops, offered in four Canadian cities and is designed to educate lower income Canadians about the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). PIPEDA is Canada’s Federal legislation that establishes rules for how private-sector organizations must protect the online privacy of Canadians.

Prêts abusifs: Un sondage sur les utilisateurs de services financiers alternatifs à taux d'intérêt élevé

Ce document analyse les résultats d'un sondage qu’ACORN Canada a mené à l’aide sur un échantillon de ses membres dans le but de comprendre pourquoi ils se tournent vers des services financiers alternatifs tels que les prêts sur salaire à taux d'intérêt élevé.

Le sondage révèle que la majorité des 268 répondants utilisent des services financiers à taux d'intérêt élevé, tels que les prêts sur salaire, qu’en dernier recours parce que les banques traditionnelles leur refusent les services de crédit adéquats.

Predatory Lending: A Survey of High Interest Alternative Financial Service Users

This paper analyzes findings from a survey by ACORN Canada of a sampling of its membership to understand why they turn to alternative financial services such as high interest payday loans. The survey finds that the majority of the 268 respondents turn to high interest financial services such as payday loans as a last resort because they are denied adequate credit services from traditional banks.

It's Expensive to be Poor: How Canadian Banks are Failing Low-Income Communities

In 2015 the six largest banks in Canada – TD, BMO, RBC, Scotia, CIBC and National Bank – generated $35 billion in profits, up from $29 billion in 2013. This perception of achievement, however, is misleading. Canadian banks are failing Canada’s low and moderate income residents. The banks’ focus on profits have led to service cuts, branch closures, and high fees, primarily impacting Canada’s low and moderate income earners.

Pages

A State of Disrepair: Hamilton ACORN Tenant Survey

In the early days of Hamilton ACORN, our low-to-moderate income membership identified substandard living conditions as the number one issue they want addressed. Conditions in buildings were unhealthy and deteriorating, while at the
same time their rents would rise.
 
Over the course of the following year Hamilton ACORN started a petition drive to highlight the issue, held a successful Hamilton Tenant Rally in the summer of 2017, and has since held multiple actions against landlords.
 
Our leaders have pushed and secured meetings with the heads of Hamilton’s largest landlords. While we were able to walk away from these meetings with some tenant victories, it became clear to our members that a larger authority must be helping tenants to hold landlords accountable.
 

Submission to CMHC's National Consultation on a Human Rights-Based Approach to Housing

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 under-housed Canadians.

Affordable for Who? : Redefining Affordable Housing in Toronto

Staggering rental costs in Toronto make it difficult for low-income individuals and families to find housing that is adequate, suitable and affordable. Since 2011, the average market rent of a one-bedroom apartment has risen by almost one third. Low and moderate income people are being forced out of the city, or left with nowhere to go. ACORN feels strongly that municipal programs offering “affordable” housing miss the mark, as the definition of affordability used by the City does not meet the needs of Toronto tenants. 

"We need people to be able to afford to live in this city" : The Urgent Need for New Affordable Housing in Toronto

With the municipal election looming, Mayor Tory has suddenly realized that Toronto is in the midst of a housing crisis. Rents are skyrocketing while vacancy rates are plummeting. Many of our most vulnerable community members live in substandard and precarious housing, struggling to make ends meet in a city that is pricing them out. 

Nova Scotia Province Wide Tenant Survey Report

In 2011 statistics, there were 390,280 private households across the province of Nova Scotia. 29% is listed as renter households. Almost a third of the population lives in a rental unit. There have been some bylaw changes made across the province in recent years aiming to improve rental housing conditions. However, as this report will show, there is still a lot to be done on both the provincial and municipal level.

Pages

An Analysis on the Locations of Polling Stations in Municipal Elections in Ottawa

Through correspondence with the City of Ottawa, it was suggested to ACORN--by the individual responsible for administering polling station locations--that the city uses voter turnout rates as the primary criterion for where to locate polling stations. This is extremely problematic, for it goes against democratic principles for voting to be made more convenient to those who more regularly exercise that democratic right; instead, the more democratic criterion for the location of polling stations would, of course, be based on population density.

The Wellesley Institute: Rising Inequality, Declining Health

In a 2012 report, the Metcalf Foundation developed a new definition of working poverty. This definition is based on income, rather than hours worked, and excludes students and those who do not live independently. Applying that definition, the authors then used data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) and the Census to estimate how many people in Toronto were living in working poverty, where they were living and working, and to describe their family lives, education and age.

This brief report by the Wellesley Institute builds on the Metcalf analysis to consider the impact of working poverty on self-reported health. How do people who are working and poor (working poor) describe their health? How does their health compare with others who are poor but are not in the labour force (non-working poor)? How does their health compare with those who are able to work and support themselves and their families (working non-poor)? Finally, how have these three groups’ perceptions of their health changed over time?

Pages