Defend the North End! ACORN members rally against Gentrification

On Saturday, July 9th, about 30 members of ACORN Nova Scotia marched on a local condominium developer, Polycorp, to protest the gentrification of North End Halifax. In the past decade, the North End has been rapidly gentrified, with condos and high-end businesses replacing affordable housing and pushing out long term residents.

 

Back January, ACORN hosted a community forum where representatives of several North End-based groups gave their perspectives on the gentrification of the neighborhood. This forum produced a clear consensus: gentrification is a hostile force reshaping the North End, and the community must unite and fight back. 

 

On Saturday, ACORN was drawing attention to the fact that many of the condominiums being constructed in the North End are sitting empty. With this in mind, members demanded that empty units be rented to long term residents of the neighborhood for $535/month, which is the housing allowance provided by Income Assistance.

 

We were pleased to see members of the Brunswick St. Tenant’s Association and the Unifor Aboriginal Workers of Colour Caucus out to support us. We’ll continue to unite with these and other organizations and fight back against gentrification. 

 

We won’t be pushed out!