Press Hits

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Hamilton ACORN members joined counterparts in other Ontario cities — Toronto, Ottawa, London, Kitchener and Brampton — to call for an immediate doubling of ODSP and Ontario Works (OW). “ODSP equals poverty,” Davignon chanted through a megaphone, before he and others handed a letter listing their demands to a manager in the Ellen Fairclough Building. Nonetheless, he considers himself “lucky” to have his $850-a-month room in a shared accommodation given the going rents in other buildings, Davignon said in an interview. That’s well below the average rent for a vacant one-bedroom apartment in Hamilton, which was $1,790 in August

Hamilton city council is set to require landlords of units with air conditioners to maintain a maximum temperature of 26 C — but a long-awaited “adequate temperature” bylaw for all rental units is still to come. Councillors at the city’s planning committee voted unanimously last week to require landlords who have provided air conditioning (AC) to keep it in good repair — and able to keep the apartment unit’s temperature below 26 C. The decision is to be ratified by council Wednesday.

ACORN members staged a “Poverty Picnic” in London Ont., Tuesday afternoon, setting out empty plates to symbolize how low social assistance rates leave families struggling to eat. “The poverty picnic is essentially a picnic with no food at it because the reality is a vast majority of us are skipping meals,” said Jordan Smith, an ACORN member. The demonstration took place across cities in Ontario, demanding the provincial government double social assistance rates. “The disabled in Ontario are really, right now, struggling 60 per cent below the poverty line,” said Smith. ACORN representatives said a single person on the Ontario Disability Support Program receives a maximum of $1,408 a month. Meantime, Ontario Works (OW) rates have been frozen since 2018.

Advocates are putting pressure on the Ontario government to at least double the amount of money people on social assistance programs receive. Chapters of ACORN, as known as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, organized what they called “poverty picnics” in six cities across the province on Tuesday. They set up picnic blankets, empty plates and lawn chairs outside the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and Ontario Works (OW) offices in Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, London and Brampton. They said the displays were a physical representation of food insecurity.

Affordable housing advocates will hold “poverty picnics” in Brampton and across Ontario to urge the province to double social assistance rates. The rallies will see members of housing activist group ACORN camp out in front of Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and Ontario Works (OW) offices next week in Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Kitchener, and Brampton. Dubbed “poverty picnics,” social assistance recipients will set up picnic blankets, empty plates, and lawn chairs as “a visual testament to how current rates keep people unable to afford food and other necessities,” ACORN says.