Landlord Licensing Update from Marva Burnett

Two years ago people said we could not do it. Twelve years ago people said we were never going to win and we should not even bother trying. 

 

Well, Toronto ACORN’s campaign to get real enforcement of apartment standards got through the License and Standards Committee yesterday.   

 

We call it LiveSafe or Landlord Licensing. Whatever the city decides to call this program it will improve the housing conditions for renters in Toronto and benefit the ACORN members who have been working so hard over the years. 

 

Among other things it will implement proactive inspections, automatic fines for slumlords, and create a system to prevent landlords from renting out units if they have outstanding orders against them. It will mandate that pest control plans and capital repair budgets are in place for every building, and that a stable funding base is collected from landlords so that program funding is protected from from any cutbacks.  

 

The final vote will go to Toronto City Council on Dec 13th, 14th, or 15th. Yes, they have 3 day meetings. We won’t know exactly which day it will be voted on until the agenda is released next week. We will let you know.

 

We will need ALL ACORN MEMBERS at city hall for this. We think we have  enough votes to win, but we will need to show them what ACORN is all about to make it a reality.

 

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