Press Hits

Dozens of Calgary groups are raising the alarm, saying they are being forced by the city to relocate from a historic Beltline building by the end of the month. The ‘Save the Old Y Coalition’ says 65 community agencies will be without a place to offer much-needed services come October, because the City of Calgary is putting up the lease for the historic YWCA building on 12 Avenue SW. The group says the building has been a community hub since 1979 and its loss would “uproot an essential public gathering place, and leave a major gap in mental health, youth, arts, culture and many other services.”

Some non-profit groups are sounding the alarm about the risks of a vacant historic property, where they and dozens of other associations have operated from, as the city decides on a new leaseholder. At a rally on Wednesday, they said they will have to vacate their offices at the city-owned YWCA building which they have called home for decades after a lease between their landlord — Community Wise Resource Centre — and the city comes to a close on September 30.

Community groups have until the end of the month to vacate the old Y building on 12th Ave after the building’s main tenant moved out. 65 of them will be displaced. The Arusha Centre wants to take over the lease while the city works out a long term plan for the building.

Le gouvernement Houston a lancé sa rentrée législative en annonçant deux nouveaux projets de loi dont un « omnibus » qui vise à modifier huit lois. L’opposition officielle a pointé du doigt un texte de loi « bâclé », qui manque de transparence. Le projet de loi de « protection des Néo-Écossais » prévoit des dispositions relatives à la protection des données, à la formation des videurs, au soutien aux victimes de violences conjugales et aux nouveaux pouvoirs permettant de faire face aux manifestants qui bloquent les routes forestières sur les terres de la Couronne.

The scorching temperatures have inspired tenant advocacy group ACORN Ottawa to fight for a heat bylaw. A report from the organization found that around half of low-to-moderate income tenants lack air conditioning, with affordability as the root cause. Out of all respondents, 54 per cent said extreme heat was their top housing issue.

When a Dieppe-based holding company bought an apartment building in central Moncton earlier this year, low-income tenants learned that the new owner was no longer accepting rent subsidies from NB Housing. That meant those low-income residents at 320 St. George Street would either have to pay market prices or leave. The new landlord cleared out about half of the tenants and began renovations. Now, the same landlord is trying to remove the remaining tenants in order to renovate their homes — and convert them into subsidized housing units. By Friday, authorities had rejected at least one of those termination notices, saying it violated the Residential Tenancies Act.