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Des bâtiments vieux, non réparés et pas optimisés aux normes environnementales. Une quinzaine de membres de la section locale de l’ACORN s’est rassemblée mercredi sur le parvis de l’hôtel de ville d’Ottawa pour réclamer la mise en place d’un règlement qui définirait la chaleur maximale autorisée dans les logements l’été. «Nous voulons que la Ville passe un règlement qui établisse un maximum de chaleur dans les logements au-dessus duquel il serait illégal d’aller. Avec la progression des changements climatiques et les étés qui deviennent de plus en plus chauds, c’est un besoin de plus en plus urgent!» explique Edward Roué, co-président de la section régionale Centre-Ottawa d’ACORN.

As climate change fuels hotter summers and more extreme heat events, a tenant advocacy group is on a campaign to protect vulnerable B.C. renters who live in units without air conditioning. Global News speaks with ACORN Canada’s Monica Bhandari about the campaign.

With summer approaching, ACORN is calling on Toronto officials to implement more measures to better protect tenants during extreme heat.

With summer heatwaves on the way, tenant advocacy group London ACORN held a rally outside city hall. ACORN Canada recently surveyed 750 tenants across the country about summer heat and related building maintenance. It found that 44 per cent of the low and moderate-income respondents lack access to air conditioning. The cost of energy was the most common reason. “Having A/C in each unit, that is controlled by the tenant, is incredibly important,” said Farrah Sherrard, Secretary of the London-at-Large Chapter. “That is something that the landlord needs to do, but in addition, we need regulations that put that cost onto the landlord without having that impact the tenants in terms of AGI’s (Above Guideline Increases) or other expenses.”

Environment Canada is warning of a daylong hot spell in much of B.C., with projected temperatures between 5 C and 12 C above normal for many areas. ACORN Canada national representative Nichola Taylor joins the show to discuss how the organization is advocating for hot weather protections for low and moderate income renters.

A Canadian tenant advocacy group says nearly half the renters they surveyed don’t have air conditioning, as they press for protections from climate-fuelled extreme heat. A report released by ACORN Canada says affordability was cited as the main barrier to access among the 44 per cent of surveyed tenants who don’t have air conditioning. The group says it collected more than 700 responses to the online survey, which was sent to its database of members and tenant contacts. The report says just over half of respondents, mostly low- and middle-income renters, identified excessive summer heat as a top maintenance issue for their unit. ACORN Canada has been pushing cities to bring in bylaws that would require landlords to keep their units below a maximum temperature threshold, similar to how they have to keep it heated when it’s cold. “The weather and climate is changing and so we need to be prepared. We need to have an apartment that is healthy,” said Alejandra Ruiz Vargas, the group’s national president.