dan kellar
Kitchener, ON – As rent prices continue to increase province-wide, ACORN has continued to demand action from all levels of government. At the municipal level, ACORN chapters were part of campaigns that won new renter protection by-laws in Kitchener and Hamilton in June, and province-wide Phone Zaps have targeted MPPs and demanded action.
On July 11th, ACORN has organised a Day of Action with protests in Ottawa, Toronto, Mississauga, London, Hamilton demanding “the Ontario Government protect affordable housing, and stop placating for-profit corporate developers and their desire for maximum profits.”
This show features Acer Bonaparte, the chair of Waterloo Region ACORN. Bonaparte told CKMS that while there isn’t an action planned locally on the 11th, the group will be active through the summer.
CKMS News contacted local PC MPPs for comment on ACORN’s demands but were told they were “not available for comment”. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing did not respond.
**shortly after first publishing this piece CKMS News received a short statement from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. We will address the statement in an upcoming CKMS News publication.**
On Saturday February 10th, the social and economic justice organisation ACORN is holding a national day of action to “Stop Grocery Giants from Price Gouging”. In Waterloo, the regional chapter of ACORN is organising a demonstration at Sobeys on Bridgeport Ave.
In a press release ACORN claims that consolidation in the grocery industry is driving-up prices and that “Grocery giants in Canada are on their way to set a new record – $6 billion profit in 2023… [they] are now earning more than twice as much profit as they did before the COVID-19 pandemic.”
This show features an interview with Acer Bonaparte of Waterloo Region ACORN, who discusses the day of action and reviews ACORN’s “Menu of fair food for all demands.” While the office of Minister Sudds gave CKMS News an update on the school food program, Sobeys had not responded to requests for comment when this piece first aired.
Waterloo – Over 8,000 renters have registered their units with ACORN’s Rental Registry since the grassroots social and economic justice organisation launched their map based online database at the end of the summer. ACORN Ontario told CKMS News in a statement that “the rental registry will track rising rents across the province.” which they say will “lead to better, publicly-available housing data that can help protect and create more affordable housing”.
Today’s shows features interviews with Acer Bonaparte, the chair of ACORN Waterloo Region, which since its launch earlier this year, has focused primarily on tenant rights and housing issues. Additionally, CKMS speaks with Geordie Dent of the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations (FMTA), a non-profit organization founded in 1974 which advocates for better rights for tenants. The show also includes comments that the ACORN Ontario chapter provided to CKMS News.
ACORN Ontario told CKMS News that the registry was created by the Montreal based non-profit Vivre en Ville, saying “The registry was first introduced in Quebec and has over 30,000+ rents voluntarily registered. The rental registry is easy, quick and secure as it was designed to be compliant with SOC2 cybersecurity standards.“, standards that meet requirements for governmental use.
According to rentals.ca, which has for years tracked such data, average rents across the country are still rising at over 100$/month, with a one bedroom apartment in Waterloo averaging 1,944$ a month in October. Two bedroom apartments are now averaging 2,543$ a month, nearly a 15% increase from last year at the same time.
While many provinces have some form of rent control, in Ontario since Doug Ford dismantled the existing system in 2018, that control comes in the form of a 2.5% maximum allowable increase to the rent after a 12 month period. However, the Landlord and Tenant Board, an arm of Ontario’s legal system, often allows this maximum to be exceeded after being convinced by a landlord’s request. As Geordie Dent explains, the board approves the above guideline increase “in the neighbourhood of 90-95% of the time”. Additionally, the maximum increase also does not apply between tenants, meaning the landlord can increase the rent any amount they want on new tenants once the old ones move out.
The Landlord and Tenant Board does not specifically track how often they approve AGIs and their 2022-2023 report has a lot of incomplete data. A brief review of cases by CKMS News centering on Above Guideline Increaseson the Canadian Legal Information Institute, where all such cases are listed, reveals the 10 most recent cases were all decided in favour of the landlord, with the majority declaring: “The Landlord justified a rent increase above the guideline because of capital expenditures.”
While above guideline increases continue to have harmful effects on renters, ACORN Ontario told CKMS News the registry will provide “Greater transparency for renters so they can make informed decisions about where they choose to live”. The statement concluded “Better housing data can help inform stronger affordable housing policies like those supported by Ontario ACORN’s ‘Real Rent Control’ Campaign. Over time, the registry will clearly show that rents increase astronomically in between tenancies on units that aren’t subject to rent control, and as a result of above guideline rent increases. These loopholes in our current rent control laws create incentives for landlords to renovict or demovict their tenants or neglect repairs until tenants get fed up and leave”.
Waterloo – On Oct 30th ACORN, the grassroots social and economic justice organisation with chapters across the country, delivered over 400 tenant testimonials to federal liberal MPs including Waterloo’s Bardish Chagger. This action coincided with ACORN’s national housing spokesperson Tanya Bukart giving testimony to the National Housing Council’s review panel on the financialisation of purpose built rental housing. Bukart’s testimony highlighted the effects on renters created by the stress of living in a precarious housing market, which has been transformed over the past decades, into an investment industry with profit seeking constantly driving up housing and rental prices.
Today’s show features interviews with Acer Bonaparte, the chair of the Waterloo Region chapter of ACORN, and Mike Morrice, the Green Party MP for Kitchener Centre, who has been pressuring the government over the ongoing crisis in the affordability of housing in Canada since being elected in 2021. Additionally, Geordie Dent of The Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations (FMTA), which advocates for better rights for tenants, adds comments on the financialisation of housing.
For the purposes of this review, the National Housing Council is using the Federal Housing Advocate’s definition of the financialization of housing which is “the growing dominance of financial actors in the housing sector, which is transforming the main function of housing from a place to live into a financial asset and a tool for investor profits.” The definition continues “These may include asset management companies, hedge funds, pension funds, private equity funds, real estate investment trusts (REITs), real estate operating companies and sovereign wealth funds.”
The National Housing Council, which refers to reports commissioned by The Federal Housing Advocate adds “The financialization of purpose-built rental housing has been linked to a range of negative impacts for renters, such as evictions, rising rents and reduced building services and maintenance.” On this point the National Right to Housing Network, a grassroots tenants rights organisation also focusing on the national panel explains “Financialization of housing refers to the treatment of housing primarily as a financial asset and tool for maximizing investor profit at the expense of human rights among tenants and tenancy-seeking individuals.”
The show focuses on the financialisation of the housing market, immediate steps which could be taken to start addressing the affordability crisis, and the longer term role of government in creating and maintaining an affordable and quality housing supply to meet the needs of growing populations.
Megan Ruttan of Waterloo Region ACORN joins Bob Jonkman to talk about evictions, renovictions, tenants’ rights, and setting up a tenants’ union in Waterloo Region.
Introducing Megan Ruttan and ACORN: The Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now, a low- to moderate-income tenants union, but they take on any issues that their members want to take on, for example payday loans. The union is just getting set up now to help fight renovictions and demovictions. Megan herself is experiencing attempts at renoviction. This has been happening for at least six years. This pre-dates ACORN, but ACORN would have fought it by drawing attention to it by direct action such as protests. There have been rallies against other renovictions in Kitchener. Landlords intimidate tenants by withholding information, so that tenants do not know what their rights are, or even who their landlord is. ACORN in Hamilton has helped create a by-law that makes it illegal to evict people in Hamilton for renovations. But each municipality will have different by-laws. ACORN has just held a national day of action on the financialization of housing. They’re asking for a law that will give first right of refusal will go to housing organizations, co-ops, and other businesses that want to build affordable housing. Waterloo Region ACORN has about 500 members; about 15 full members who pay $15/month in dues, but many people can’t afford that. Waterloo Region ACORN started about three months ago, in April.
Waterloo Region ACORN has a three month plan, meeting in August to plan an action to take place in September. They’re building membership; anyone is welcome to join, not just renters. The August meeting will be hybrid, both in-person and online for Covid safety. The national organization in Ottawa and the chapter in London have provided a lot of help in the form of flyers, handouts, mailing lists, &c. The money from dues goes towards copying costs and SDCWR for use of their facilities. The entire region of Waterloo has an epidemic of unsheltered people. The chapter was named Waterloo Region ACORN to include everyone in the region; it’s not just a Kitchener issue.
28m47s
“The financialization of housing” treats housing as an investment, not as shelter or homes, or as a human right. Municipalities are not building purpose-built rental housing; many politicians to make this happen to own rental properties, and seem disinclined to reduce their holdings to build affordable housing. Globally, the climate crisis is creating climate refugees, who need housing. Do we have shelter for these people? We need to build housing. The municipalities need to build the housing, not just pass by-laws or re-zones. The City of Kitchener is not acting to build housing or reduce renovictions when they had the chance to vote on zoning changes. Their answer seems to be to police housing. If they don’t build housing, people will die. Who could be affected by the housing crisis? Almost every renter. What happens with the laws that require landlords to provide the renovated units to former tenants? It gets ignored, landlords just rent to new, higher-paying tenants. People in this situation don’t have the capacity, “the spoons”, to deal with this. Megan has the spoons to deal with this because she’s connected in the community, and knows the resources.
38m14s
How did Waterloo Region ACORN get started here? There were already people with memberships in other chapters; people contacted the national chapter; they already had a mailing list! Everything is connected, Megan was already active in climate organizing, political organization; if one issue is advanced, the others are too.
How do people get involved if they have no background in tenant organization? Come to the meeting in August, ACORN will provide training on door knocking, &c. They’ll knock on the doors of tenants to let them know help is available. They’ve reached out to local politicians, but not all have responded. Talking about other events where ACORN has had a presence. Giving credit to Maribel and other leaders, their appearances in local media.
48m25s
What about all the local construction? It’s mostly condominiums, only 15% affordable housing. Condos aren’t affordable housing. The tenants’ union is the opposite of a Home Owners’ Association, the union lifts you up, doesn’t repress your rights.
50m36s
Reviewing Waterloo Region ACORN‘s presence on social media. Talking about Project Mushroom, an online presence for social activists. It had some setbacks when the founder discovered it could not be monetized, but Megan and others are still keeping it alive.
53m12s
Bob gives the end credits.
CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
1 – City of Barrie backs down after threatening drastic measures against the homeless population
The Barrie city Council tried to push anti-homeless legislation through at a meeting this week but backed down due to the strong country-wide backlash. That backlash included presenting the legal precedent from the Superior Court case The Regional Municipality of Waterloo v. Persons Unknown and to be Ascertained, 2023, which blocked the eviction of people living at the Victoria and Weber encampment in Kitchener.
There is a clip from Rob Romanek of EngageBarrie
2 -GRT fares increasing as was decided by Regional Council in February
GRT fares are increasing on July 1, following an earlier budget decision by Regional Council who voted for the increase. The Cash fare will go up 14% to $3.75 per ride, a more expensive fare than nearly all other public transit in Ontario, including that of Toronto, Hamilton, London, and Guelph.
3 – Long standing health centres merge
Sanctuary Refugee Health Centre and Kitchener Downtown Community Health Centre have mergedand are now called Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo. There are two locations at both ends of the downtown core in Kitchener.
4 – Protest march against renoviction of more than 20 Kitchener residents from their homes
On June 19th, more than 50 people were at the protest and march to draw attention to Mississauga based investor landlord Mike Beer who has moved to renovict more than 20 Kitchener residents from their homes. Marching from the Fairway Ion station to 267 Traynor Ave, the protestors were welcomed by the neighbourhood.
There is clip from Maribel of ACORN.
This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, Heritage Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
On June 4, the one-year anniversary of Doug Ford’s re-election in Ontario, thousands of people across the province came together for the Enough is Enough expo, march and rally.
In the Waterloo region, the demonstration was organized by the Waterloo Regional Labour Council and took place at Kitchener City Hall. The goal of the event was to draw attention to the cost-of-living crisis, the housing crisis and many other social, political and climate crises, and to show solidarity and exchange ideas.
After a little less than two hours, the expo closed up and the participants marched down King Street to rally outside Grand River Hospital where six speakers talked about the situation and what can be done about it.
The Grand River Environmental Network joined in the coalition building rally Enough is Enough! Photo by Trish Holmes.Enough is Enough demo participants had style on lockdown. Photo by Trish Holmes.
Headlines for Saturday June 17th, 2023 from host dan kellar:
1 – Tenant Union pushes back against “high-pressure” landlord. The recently launched ACORN Tenant Union of Waterloo Region is organising a demonstration targeting a landlord whom tenants say is trying to renovict all the residents in two buildings who are paying less than market rates. 2 – The Canadian Disability Act finally heading for final approval in the Senate Disabled folks in Canada may soon receive a bit more support due to the impending approval of Bill C-22.
3 – Indigenous Solidarity Day Unity Jam in Waterloo Park. With the tag line “Love, Lax, and Land Back”, a Solidarity Day Unity Jam and Lacrosse game, hosted by Protect the Tract, will take place in Waterloo park on June 21st.
4 – Forest fires push Waterloo Region’s air quality to the most dangerous levels in a decade. Last week’s combination of the smoke from climate change fueled forest fires and a low pressure system off the east coast, led to Waterloo Region suffering its worst air quality levels in at least a decade
This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, Heritage Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
1 – Waterloo’s Trinity Bible Chapel at the forefront of christian fundamentalist anti-LGBTQ movement.
Waterloo based pastor Jacob Reaume of the Trinity Bible Chapel again brings national attention to Waterloo through his anti-LGBTQ sermons and involvement in nationwide network Christian fundamentalist churches who have been supporting anti-LGBTQ candidates in municipal and school board elections across the country.
2 – Former teacher has her day in court over book censorship presentation “censorship”.
Former teacher Carolyn Burjoski’s has taken the Waterloo Region District School Board to court demanding she be allowed to continue her presentation which was arguing that some books available to students with LGBTQ themes were not appropriate and could mislead those who read the books about sexuality and gender.
3 – WRDSB trustee Mike Ramsay takes the school board to court over “free expression” suspension.
Represented by the the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, WRDSB trustee Mike Ramsay was in Ontario Superior Court on June 6th as he tries to have a suspension struck from his record and for the court to declare that the School Board violated his charter right to free expression. The school board still holds that the suspension was based on an accurate assessment of the situation, and that freedom of expression does not mean freedom from consequences.
4 – ACORN launches in Waterloo Region to support tenants’ rights.
On May 25th, 2023 a chapter of the Canada-wide social and economic justice organisation ACORN launched in Waterloo Region in an effort to support tenants and form strategies to combat “High Rents, Renovictions, and Slumlords.”
This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, Heritage Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
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