ACORN Takes Over Queen’s Park With Lobby Day for FULL Rent Control!

On Thurs May 9th, 25 ACORN leaders from across Ontario travelled to Queen’s Park for their provincial lobby day in support of members’ fight for Full Rent Control & a ban on Above Guideline Increases (AGIs). ACORN’s mission was to meet with MPPs from all parties to discuss the urgent need to protect affordable housing from being destroyed by corporate landlords taking advantage of the glaring loopholes in Ontario’s current rent control measures.

The Problems with Ontario’s Rent Control:

1. Rent control does not apply to new developments built after November 2018. Doug Ford removed rent control on new builds the first time he was elected. This is why we see double digit rent increases in newer buildings.
2. Rent control does not apply to vacant units. This is called Vacancy DE- Control. So when a tenant moves out there is no limit on how much rent can increase. This creates a financial incentive for landlords to push out long term tenants through renovictions and neglecting repairs. According to CMHC, rents for 2-bedroom units in the GTA that turned over to a new tenant were 31.2% higher than those that did not see a change in tenant.
3. Another exemption to rent control is AGIs that allow landlords to pass down the cost of major repairs or building upgrades to tenants.

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Message to All Parties and MPPs:

The ACORN Lobby Day was kicked off with a press conference in the Queen’s Park Media Studio where ACORN invited all parties to send representatives to share words of support for our campaign. Leaders provided an overview of our platform, campaign highlights, shared their personal stories and listened to speeches from NDP MPP Jill Andrew, Green MPP Aislinn Clancy, and Independent MPP Sarah Jama.

During the lunch hour ACORN hosted a reception where we were joined by 70 MPPs from all parties, staffers and journalists. ACORN Leaders delivered speeches about tenants’ struggles with renovictions, demovictions and AGIs, our campaign demands and called on MPPs to endorse the platform. Official remarks were given by the Leader of the Ontario NDP, Marit Stiles, Green MPP Aislinn Clancy, and Liberal MPP Stephanie Bowman.

The day was wrapped up with several sit down meetings with MPPs and staff from the NDP, Greens and PC.

Takeaway

Ontario ACORN’s Lobby Day was a big success! Low – and – moderate income leaders from Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, London, Peel and Waterloo Region were able to press MPPs on the urgency of introducing Full Rent Control & banning AGIs but the work didn’t start nor does it stop here. Get involved in ACORN’s campaign by:

• Joining the ACORN Tenant Union!
• Staying connected by signing up for our e-newsletter
• Participating in monthly Ontario zoom meetings and regular provincial days of action
• Sending a message to Doug Ford, the Housing Minister and your MPP in solidarity through our online action.