Calgary ACORN Registers their Landlords!
Posted August 21, 2025
CALGARY, AB— Over 25 ACORN members gathered to fight for landlord licensing! We made our own landlord registry to document the rents and neglect of Calgary’s landlords including Mainstreet, Boardwalk, Avenue Living, and Calgary Housing. We got new people involved, did some chants, and had some great speakers!
Shout out to East End Chair Vanessa, East End Co-Chair Shanice, East End’s Secretaries Annadee and Kavin, and City Centre’s Chair Abi who all shared stories about living in a state of disrepair, the failure of Alberta Health in enforcing minimum housing standards, and the urgent need for the City of Calgary to stop passing the buck and license landlords to enforce housing standards!
Ward 7 City Councillor Candidate, David Barrett, attended as well and spoke in support of licensing landlords! Stay tuned as ACORN members make landlord licensing a top of mind issue in Calgary’s upcoming election!
Reach out to [email protected] to get involved!
What is landlord registration:
Licensing landlords would create an enforcement system for the provincial Minimum Housing and Health Standards, which is essentially a list of conditions that must be upheld by a landlord when renting out a unit.
Currently, provincial enforcement of the Minimum Housing and Health Standards is non-existent and handled in a way that makes tenants vulnerable to losing their apartments without having their lease protected. ACORN is calling on the City of Calgary to step in, much like the City of Edmonton has considered.
Tenants often don’t know about the standards, and when they do, they fear reprisals from landlords for lodging a formal complaint.
By giving regulatory powers and enforcement tools to the City of Calgary’s bylaw department, a landlord registration system would enable the department to proactively deal with landlords who refuse to keep buildings up to legal standards. It would take the onus off tenants to file complaints against landlords who are not upholding their rental agreements, and it would make complaints anonymous, keeping tenants safe.
Similar landlord registration and licensing systems are already in place throughout the rest of the country. Rest assured Calgary ACORN won’t rest until a landlord registry and proactive building inspections are a reality in Calgary!
