We are losing affordable rentals faster than we are building them:

• Between 2016–2021, Canada lost 230,000 affordable rental units. That is 46,000 each year.
• Canada’s total non market housing stock (3.5%) is shamefully low when compared to other OECD countries (6.9%).

Building more housing is only HALF the solution to our housing crisis. Provinces across the country are giving for-profit landlords free rein to destroy the little affordable housing we have left! That looks like:

• Fixed Term Leases that expire every year, instead of rolling over like they do in BC and Ontario.  In Nova Scotia and Alberta itt means tenants are forced to MOVE OUT and pay higher rents at a new apartment!
• No Rent Control: Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador HAVE NO RENT CONTROL.  Landlords can increase rents to WHATEVER amount, whenever! 
• No Fault Evictions: ACORN is constantly fighting greedy landlords who want to evict tenants under the guise of major renovations or because they claim their family member is moving in. But it’s a ruse to raise the rent for someone new!
• No Cause Evictions: Newfoundland tenants have ZERO security of tenure. Landlords can evict for NO REASON. 
• AGIs and ARIs: Ontario and BC have loose rules around AGIs (Above Guideline Increases) and ARIs (Additional Rent Increases) that allow landlords to get rubber stamp approval to pass on the cost of repairs to tenants. 

WORST, perhaps: Federal Housing Money is going to projects that are destroying affordable housing! Carney’s Build Canada Homes is giving BILLIONS to the provinces to build “affordable housing” after demolishing housing and MASS EVICTING TENANTS FROM THEIR HOMES! This is rampant in Surrey, BC and right here in Ottawa! Accora village is going to lose thousands of units all while the federal government is giving millions to build NON affordable housing in Ottawa. 

ACORN is demanding all federal funding be conditional on provinces meeting national housing standards that protect existing affordable housing. Standards MUST include:

• Real rent control, no loopholes (ex. no Above Guideline Increases or AGIs in ON, and Additional Rent Increases or ARIs in BC).
• Bans on no-fault, no cause and bad faith evictions.
• End fixed-term lease abuse.
• Secure tenure for all renters.

The federal government says it can’t control the provinces when it comes to housing; it’s not their jurisdiction.  But that’s WRONG!

Heath is also not their jurisdiction and the Canada Health Act FORCES provinces to provide healthcare for all. We need the National Housing Strategy to do the same: force provinces and cities to create baseline tenant protections or LOSE federal housing dollars.