Protect What We Have, Build What We Need: ACORN’s National Day of Action for Affordable Housing

ACORN members and leaders from 9 different cities in 5 provinces stood up today to demand the federal government wake up and see that building housing without forcing tenant protections on the provinces will not stop the erosion of affordable housing.  It’s crucial that any federal housing money NEEDS conditions on the provinces to close rent control loopholes, ban fix term leases and give people security of tenure. 

Alarming Stats:

• In 2022, 1.7 million households (3.3 million people) lived in core housing need (CMHC, 2025). 
• Over 235,000 people face homelessness (Stats Canada, 2023).
• We are losing affordable rentals faster than we are building them: Between 2016–2021, Canada lost 230,000 affordable rental units (CHEC, 2022)

Take action now to tell the Carney government to stop the erosion of affordable housing.

Nova Scotia

In Nova Scotia, ACORN members rallied with fire in their voice outside MP Darren Fisher’s office. Their demands were simple; before any money goes to the province, they must ratify the renters bill of rights, ban fixed term leases and other loopholes and make the affordable housing actually affordable. Shoutout to the leaders Tim Allenby and Deborah Copeman for hosting and leading from the front for the entire event. A special thank you to Lina Hamid, NDP MLA for Fairview Clayton Park for her impassioned speech.

Our march, headed by Tim and Deborah, concluded when we crowded the hallway to the MP’s office. Darren Fisher was absent today, It seemed like the office did not accept walk-in visits. Tim and Deborah both were proactive, delivering the letter through the mail slot, leaving a message on their office phone… and taping the demands directly on both doors for Darren and all to see! These steps will make sure our demands are seen and it will be something Darren can remember us by.

Ontario

In Ontario group letter drops happened in London at London North-Centre MP Peter Fragiskatos; in Toronto at Beaches-East York MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith’s, at Hamilton East-Stoney Creek MP Ned Kuruc’s, and Mississauga East–Cooksville MP Peter Fonseca.  Meetings were secured in both Toronto and Mississauga

In the national capital we went down to 1495 heron rd, a new proposed site for Build Canada Homes. The neighbourhood has a rich history of organizing with ACORN for housing, the lot across the street used to house 500 families that were demovicted for luxury apartments by Hazelview. 

The location emphasized the need to protect existing affordable housing while we try to build our way out of the housing crisis as we lose 15 – 30 affordable housing units for every one unit of affordable housing built. ACORN members chanted we need to tie in better tenant protections, like vacancy control, to stop incentivizing landlords to push out long term tenants.  We also need non-market and deeply affordable housing to really tackle this crisis. Thanks to members Becky Desrochers and Dominic L’Heureux for leading this action. 

New Brunswick

In New Brunswick, a dozen members came despite the rain in front of Dieppe City hall to read both ACORN’s national Housing Platform and provincial Do Rent Control Right demands. They then marched to the front of EXIT REALTY’s office- the only office of Kyle Johnson that is publicly available. Kyle Johnson is a known slumlord in the greater Moncton area, his company’s rent hikes made headlines during the pandemic.

BC

In Surrey, highlighting the need to protect affordable housing, ACORN started our action by doing outreach outside Regency Apartments, where 500+ families are still at risk of being demovicted from their homes and displaced from the neighbourhood. We then marched to the constituency office of Surrey Central Liberal MP and Secretary of State for International Development, Randeep Sarai. It’s crucial that any Federal money for housing going to BC comes with strings attached: anti-displacement protections to protect thousands of renters from looming demovictions in areas around transit hubs. Although MP Sarai wasn’t in his office, we secured commitments from staff to schedule a meeting with Surrey ACORN leaders soon. 

Alberta

Calgary ACORN members hit the doors at Trevella Townhomes in Forest Lawn—an apartment complex owned by Mainstreet and known for its terrible conditions—to speak with tenants about the scourge of fixed term leases in Alberta!   Many tenants shared stories of maintenance issues and disrepair, but also of fear: they worry that if they report Mainstreet to Alberta Public Health or the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service, their fixed-term leases won’t be renewed.

Despite that fear, we had great conversations and gathered petition signatures to ban fixed-term leases and protect tenants’ right to safe, stable housing. Tenants agreed that any money given to the provinces from the federal government to build more housing, must come with conditions that will bring provinces like Alberta up to a minimum national standard of tenant rights!