Press Hits

The city of Toronto is drafting a bylaw that would require landlords to keep indoor temperatures at or below 26 degrees during heat warnings, but it won’t go to council until late this year. The city says addressing excessive indoor heat is a complex issue that involves balancing affordability, health, the environment, and the needs of both tenants and landlords. East York ACORN member Christena Abbott talks about the debilitating effects of extreme heat and the urgent need for strong maximum heat bylaw in the Canadian Press.

After a long night of discussions, a Kitchener committee voted to move forward with plans to create a bylaw targeting renovictions. Protestors gathered outside Kitchener City Hall for the Planning and Strategic Initiative Committee meeting on Monday night. The group called on the committee to commit to developing a renovictions bylaw, despite a recommendation from staff not to do so. They held signs with slogans such as ‘Bylaw or Bye-Bye!’ and ‘We aren’t moving. No renoviction.’

Monique Gordon’s second-floor apartment in Rexdale is sweltering hot all year-round — even in the winter. She keeps track of the temperature in her home with a small digital thermometer and records it as proof. Recently, on a cool, rainy 20 C afternoon, her unit was 27.3 C, an indoor temperature that’s unsafe to live in, health experts and environmental advocates say. Gordon, who is chair of ACORN’s Etobicoke chapter, has lung granulomas. Paired with the heat, it makes it difficult to breathe. “Thank God, I don’t have any asthma because I don’t think I’d be able to make it through with the heat,” Gordon told CBC Toronto.

Several groups and residents attended the City of Hamilton’s General Issues Committee meeting Wednesday, disappointed and frustrated with councillors. Emotions ran high as many people, each with different concerns, appeared at the meeting to express their disappointment in the city, and to urge council to listen and learn. From striking workers, to Hamilton’s homelessness crisis, and the Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) charging people with disabilities to ride the bus. “The city is not built for us, and we need more help from you,” said one person who attended the council meeting.

« Vous avez ma parole. » Face à l’insalubrité, à la moisissure et aux inondations à répétition qui rongent les immeubles de l’avenue Bergamot, dans le quartier Rexdale de Toronto, la mairesse Olivia Chow promet que les choses vont changer. « Cette situation est moins que parfaite, mais elle s’améliora », lance-t-elle, alors que les locataires, excédés, dénoncent ces « conditions déplorables ». Dans un communiqué, l’association de défense des droits des locataires ACORN soutient que des locataires dénoncent depuis longtemps les conditions déplorables auxquelles ils sont confrontés aux appartements du 9 au 27 avenue Bergamot.

In the context of rapidly worsening climate change, cities such as Ottawa are on the front lines of the race to protect residents from the threat of summer heatwaves. Statistics Canada estimates that around 36 per cent — nearly 150,000 — of Ottawa households are renters. Many have no power to control the temperature in their units. While Ottawa-specific data is scarce, a national survey from ACORN Canada found that 44 per cent of respondents had no access to air conditioning. When other factors are considered, such as old and inefficient building stock, poverty and the rising cost of living, it is no surprise that cooling is out of reach for too many.