London ACORN Tenant speakout against Old Oak Properties on Adelaide!

Yesterday London ACORN members living at the Old Oak Properties buildings on Adelaide held an AMAZING tenant speakout against the state of disrepair their buildings have been left in, along with the constant issues with reaching building management.

Tenants have repeatedly complained about unattended leaks and holes in their ceilings and walls, carpets that haven’t been cleaned in years causing health issues, black mold, and horrific pest infestations. Moreover, tenants in one building noticed an increase in their rent this year that they were never given prior notice of. When tenants try to go to the rental office to discuss these concerns, they are often locked out entirely and told to send an email instead, despite previous emails and calls having been ignored.

24 people were able to attend the speakout held Thursday, with CTV News, The London Free Press, and FXM Radio there to cover the action!. Members shared their horror stories, gave out flyers, and with leaders Anna Ierullo and Alex Brodhagen leading chants, they marched together to the rental office. Despite it being well within their posted office hours, the office doors were locked, with no lights on inside (a common occurrence according to tenants). While our leaders expressed their demands on the megaphone, members taped several demand letters to the office doors and windows to ensure the office could not claim to have “not received” it. As members started leaving at the end of the action, we spotted one of the rental office workers coming out of their hiding places in the back room to tear down the letters left in their windows! The office workers were too afraid to face us! Unfortunately for them, we won’t be stopping anytime soon!

Thanks so much to our newer leaders Anna and Alex and our veteran leaders Jordan and Claire for all their hard work to make this event a huge success! We can’t wait for the next one!