ACT & LEARN about Affordable Housing and Homelessness

ACT  ▶ Urge the government to protect tenants from COVID evictions

Fresh lockdowns have closed a number of Ontario business and institutions, depriving workers in those sectors of income. Many of them will struggle to pay their rent. And there is no protection against eviction for those unable to pay, as there was early in the pandemic. Plus, as of January 1, last year’s rent freeze is over, and rents can rise again.

Lockdowns are imposed to protect us all; those locked out of their workplaces shouldn’t be abandoned to fend for themselves. You can sign a petition urging the government to freeze rents and reinstate a ban on evictions. Check out the petition and sign it HERE.

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LEARN ▶ How to end homelessness, the Medicine Hat and Finnish way

CBC Radios the Current on Monday carried a useful half-hour discussion on how Medicine Hat, Alberta, and Finland, among others, have made huge strides toward ending homelessness.

Listen, starting at 47 minutes: HERE Or read the transcript, starting with the first reference to Jamie Rogers.

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LEARN ▶ Solutions for housing affordability: build more co-op housing, focus on renters

The National Observer’s lead columnist, Max Fawcett, had two insightful columns recently on the affordable housing crisis. In one, he talks about co-operative housing, which helps remove profit from housing while building communities. Read HERE. And in another, he talks about the need to balance all of the incentives for home ownership with equal support and incentives for the third of Canadians who rent. And HERE. (You get three free views of National Observer articles.)