The Voter Purge Project Identifies Major Issues, Key Trends in Battleground States

Produced by ACORN Foundation India September 2022

Hanumanti Ramchandra Chalwadi has worked in the waste recycling sector in Dharavi, Mumbai, for over 40 years. She started out as a waste collector and separated recyclables from the city’s garbage. Later, she set up and ran her own waste sorting business for many years, which has a cumulative worth of Rs. 1 crore (0.12 million USD). A single mother, she raised her children on her own, and in this short documentary, she talks about her life and the challenges of being a woman waste entrepreneur.

Grenoble approves wearing the burkini in public swimming pools

The New York Times

April 18, 2022

The Female Soccer Players Challenging France’s Hijab Ban By Constant Méheut

Photographs by Monique Jaques

NB Tenants win year-long rent cap and eviction protection

The announcement of temporary 3.8% rent cap and eviction protections for New Brunswick tenants is a result of relentless campaigning by NB ACORN and our allies to end the NB Housing Crisis.  

Through organizing tenant power and taking action, NB ACORN has succeeded in forcing the Conservative government to provide a break for tenants from massive rent hikes and a constant fear of losing their home.  

Due to ACORN’s efforts, New Brunswick tenants will not receive massive rent increases they cannot afford for at least a year.  The new eviction protections mean that it will be far less common for tenants to be forced from their homes for no reason other than the landlord wants them out. 

While the rent cap is temporary, and the eviction protections do not appear to be as strong as they should be, both are certainly better than having no protections at all.

Moving forward ACORN will do what it always has done: continue to build tenant power and fight for tenant law reform in NB. Tenants need affordable and healthy housing. Tenants need to be secure in their housing. ACORN will not stop organizing tenant power and fighting for housing justice until we achieve those goals.

Since winning the temporary 2% rent cap in November 2020 – ACORN has been hearing stories and receiving rent increases from tenants whose landlords intend to raise rents after the cap lifts. Some increases are as high as $2000 extra dollars a month, while most range between $100-500 more. The new PC government has made it clear that they are not interested in protecting tenants from unreasonable rent increases past the state of emergency, so ACORN rallied in front of the legislature to demand they keep the rent cap.

We had 70 people at the initial rally, with 150 people dropping by throughout the day to sit in, tell their stories, and protest the government’s unwillingness to protect tenants. ACORN leaders Janet Niyonkuru, Lina Hamid, Hannah Wood, Sam Hall, Campbell McClintock, Pat Donovan, and Lisa Hayhurst spoke about everything from the discrimination they’ve faced as newcomers finding housing, to affordability, to issues getting repairs done in buildings.

Allied organizations and unions joined to both hold workshops and speak to the crowd. Nan McFadgen VP of the NSFL and President of CUPE, Gary Burrill and Suzy Hansen of the NSNDP, Christine Saulnier of the CCPA-NS, African Nova Scotian social justice and human rights advocate Raymond Sheppard, support workers and clients from the Truro Homeless Outreach Society, Vicky Levack speaking to universal design and accessible housing, Aparna Mohan from the Dalhousie Student Union, and Amanda Sprigs from the This Should Be Housing project. Along with a tenancy Q+A with Dal Legal Aid and food from The Loaded Ladle. 

There’s a compilation of news coverage below, and we’ve already forced a response from Premier Tim Houston! Residential Tenancies emailed the night of September 23rd and said the government no longer plans to lift the state of emergency when we go to phase 5, so the rent cap will stay in place for a bit longer. ACORN knows this isn’t enough, and we’re going to fight to make sure the rent cap is permanent!

Stay tuned for upcoming actions. And in the meantime, send an email to the Premier and your MLA here demanding permanent rent control and real action on affordable housing: https://acorncanada.org/take-action/keep-rent-cap

Read More:

NS Advocate: https://acorncanada.org/nova-scotia-advocate-media-release-acorn-rallying-keep-rent-cap
The Chronicle Herald: https://acorncanada.org/saltwire-group-rallying-legislature-fight-continued-cap-rent-increases
CBC: https://acorncanada.org/cbc-news-protesters-ns-legislature-demand-permanent-rent-control
Halifax Today: https://acorncanada.org/halifax-today-thursday-rally-will-call-rent-control-stay-place
The Coast: https://acorncanada.org/coast-acorn-rally-calls-government-extend-rent-control
CTV: https://acorncanada.org/ctv-news-rent-control-rally-held-halifax

Timbercreek (also called Hazelview), a well-known property developer in Ottawa, has applied for an Official Plan Amendment (OPA) with the city’s government, proposing to redevelop the Herongate area for the next 20 years.

That’s right: two-zero. As in, two decades of one company having free reign over an area’s development.

ACORN Ottawa sprang into action by submitting a list of tenant’s demands to city officials, which must include the following, among other demands, if the OPA is to be granted:

• 25-35% affordable housing with an emphasis on DEEP affordability 
• Affordable childcare space 
• Local job hiring pre and post construction
• Affordable retail space for small businesses
• Continued maintenance of units and proactive inspections by the City 
• Quarterly reports on progress presented to tenants and community organizations in the neighborhood

Local ACORN members followed this list of demands with a Rally for Herongate to push for affordable housing, no demovictions, and no displacement of the local community. Check out highlights from their action below:

One of ACORN Canada’s long-standing and hard-fought campaigns against predatory lending got a huge boost recently upon the release of the 2021 Budget.

The government has agreed to a consultation on the lowering of the federal interest rate, which has the potential to lower the NSF fee attached to predatory lending.

To find out more about what this means for ACORN Canada — as well as read their full response to the release of the 2021 Budget — check out their posting here.

From CTV News Canada:

VANCOUVER — On Saturday, advocates dropped a banner off the Cambie Bridge in Vancouver calling for rent debt forgiveness.

BC ACORN, an advocacy organization, said the banner drop was an effort to escalate its campaign to end rent debt caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Many of the people that lost income because of the pandemic restrictions also found themselves unable to afford rent and buy enough food,” said ACORN’s housing advocacy spokesperson Murray Martin in a news statement.

The white banner read “end rent debt” and included an illustration of the coronavirus.

Specifically, the group wants the B.C. government to reinstate the moratorium on evictions, end rent debt and enact vacancy rent control – a type of rent control attached to homes that prevents landlords from hiking the rental rate when a tenant leaves.

“(ACORN) hopes that by showing broad support for ending COVID rent debt (it) will convince (its) old housing ally David Eby that something needs to be done,” reads the news statement.

The organization says it will be meeting with Eby, B.C.’s Housing Minister and Attorney General, next week.

“David Eby used to come and speak at housing forums we held before he was elected. He was always showing unequivocal support for the cause. We hope he hasn’t changed too much” said ACORN member Peter Gardner in the statement.