Canada-wide Housing Day of Action to Stop Corporate Landlords

ACORN had a wonderful Canada-wide National Day of Action in 10 cities across the country. Members targeted their local MPs to raise issue of growing corporate landlords taking away every last affordable rental building. The rents are skyrocketing, we cannot lose any more affordable homes. The Federal Budget 2023 was silent on the most concerning issue i.e., the housing crisis that is getting worse by the day!

Demand action on ACORN’s National Housing Platform, which when enacted will allow the federal government to stop corporate landlords making Canada’s market rental apartment unaffordable. You can read the platform here.

Send a quick letter to Prime Minister, the Housing Minister and your MP. Click here.

Snapshot of the ACORN actions coast to coast!

Fredericton: New Brunswick ACORN Chair Nichola Taylor, Glen Harris and Lore Ingersol met with Liberal MP Jenica Atwin. She said the number one issue she hears at the doors is housing.She also agreed to a meeting. Press from Global TV and The Daily Gleaner coming up soon!

Moncton: NB ACORN members started at 1111 Main St., a building owned by Killam REIT. They rallied, handed out flyers and then marched down Main St. to the Liberal MP Ginette Petitpas Taylor’s office. They spoke with the MP’s assistant for quite a while and delivered the letter.

Halifax: Nova Scotia ACORN members went to the Liberal MP Andy Fillmore’s office to deliver the ACORN Housing Platform. Members were able to the MP’s Assistant. Lisa Hayhurst, NS ACORN member will also be taking the letter to her MP in Dartmouth.

Hamilton: ACORN members visited the office of Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner. Members were able to deliver our demand letter to the MP’s Assistant. Afterwards members fliered on the Mountain to let more tenants know about the campaign.

BC: BC ACORN members rallied outside the Vancouver main office of Onni Group, one of the largest corporate slumlords in BC, joined by ally NDP MP Jenny Kwan. Onni is one of BC’s developers, reportedly bringing in hundreds of MILLIONS in revenue last year alone. But building thousands of luxury condos and hotels isn’t enough! Onni has been buying up over a dozen older, affordable apartment buildings all over the Lower Mainland and doing what they do best: neglecting basic maintenance and mistreating tenants! CTV and Fairchild TV covered the action as members gave speeches detailing what it’s like to live in an apartment owned by a huge corporate landlord and joined NDP MP and Housing Critic Jenny Kwan in calling on the Federal government to put new regulations around corporate landlords buying affordable housing.

Calgary: ACORN Members from across Calgary came together outside the head office of Mainstreet Equity, one of the city’s top slumlords. With over 100 properties in Calgary alone, and over 400 properties across Western Canada, Mainstreet’s business strategy has been to buy up affordable housing and to price tenants out of their own homes. The action was led entirely by new members with East end chair Vanessa taking the lead on chants! Mainstreet locked the doors on us but did come out to accept our letter and tell us to get off their private property.

Brampton: Peel ACORN got a great group of members at Liberal MP Shafqat Ali’s office. The members had a meeting scheduled with the MP which was cancelled. Members did a speakout led by our great leaders Tanya Burkart and Marcia Bryan in front of his office. Members were able to speak with the MP’s Communications Officer who will helping in delivering the letter to the MP and rescheduling the meeting. Peel ACORN got press ahead of the action in Insauga.com

London: Members came to help with petitioning and picketing outside Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos’ office. The MP stepped outside of his office to check what was happening. Members talked with the MP about their concerns with housing affordability and corporate landlords, and Peter agreed that it was a very important issue. He said the first point on our demand list – mandating disclosure of property ownership across all provinces – was something they are already working on and he will be working to make happen. He agreed to meet with ACORN members in the future. After, members petitioned and handed out flyers for an hour and collected a whopping 50+ signatures!

Ottawa: Ottawa members paid a visit to Ottawa-Vanier Liberal MP Mona Fortier’s office to deliver their letter of demands and set up a meeting with the MP. Before heading into the MP’s office, Vanier member Marc Masson spoke about how Vanier had been hit by the housing crisis. He also spoke about ACORN members who live on Des Pères Blanc Ave and their experience with financialized landlords who wouldn’t offer any information on who they were or where their office was located to the tenants, even as they were trying to kick out of their homes before the building was even sold. As members kept up chants outside the office, Vanier ACORN Co-Chair Bader Abu-Zahra delivered the letter to one of MP’s assistants and got them to agree to setting a date for a meeting with the MP and ACORN sometime around mid-May.

Toronto: ACORN members marched from the busy Weston & Lawrence intersection to the side street enclave to deliver our housing platform to the Housing Minister Ahmed Hussen. Weston Co-Chair Marcia Stone led the action. Since there was no-one at the office, ACORN members waited for a bit. CTV reporter and a journalist from the Toronto Observer covered the action. We did get a staff member from the Minister’s office to agree to schedule a meeting with us for Wednesday next week.