Toronto ACORN

Today, the City of Toronto’s Executive Committee passed a $1 million expansion to the Free Air Conditioner Program — which will fund the provision and installation of 2400 air conditioners in time for this summer!

This a nearly fivefold increase over last year’s budget allocation, and will ensure that every person that applied to the program will receive an air conditioner.

However, we know that this is only a short-term intervention. Tenants need a maximum indoor temperature bylaw that caps temperatures in their apartments at 26°C, and we’ll continue to organize until every tenant is safe, healthy, and cool in their apartment.

Wanna join the campaign to Beat the Heat? Contact Toronto ACORN at (416) 461-9233 or [email protected]!

Today, a small but mighty crew delivered a letter to their MPP Mohamed Firin, demanding that he meet with Weston ACORN. With the passing of Bill 60 and an AGI epidemic, tenants expressed concern of being priced out of their homes. To make matters worse, there is prospective development in the neighbourhood with no mention of affordable units.

Staffers popped out of MPP Firin's office to check out the protest, but when we rung the doorbell with hopes that someone would accept our letter, we were met without response.

Live in Toronto and want to organize a tenant union in your neighbourhood? Call 416-461-9233 or e-mail [email protected]! 🚩🚩🚩

Send the Province a message here:🔗 https://acorncanada.org/take_action/repeal-bill-60-doug-fords-more-evictions-faster-act/

Today, Toronto City Council voted to strengthen the RentSafeTO program by:

• Introducing a colour-coded signage system for evaluating Toronto apartment buildings and a plan for rolling them out across the city this summer.
• Reweighing evaluation scores to penalize landlords for more serious infractions, like broken elevators.
• Creating a policy framework for remedial action so the City can fix up deteriorating buildings and bill the landlords for the work.

This is alongside the investments that have been made over the last couple years in expanding the size of the team of RentSafeTO bylaw enforcement officers.

Make no mistake, these changes *will* help Toronto tenants. We’ve been calling for these measures for years.

But there’s more to fight for, like universal work orders and in-unit inspections. We were happy to see ’s motion to investigate expanding the RentSafeTO program to more properties, ensure bylaw officers are engaging tenants door-to-door, and find more ways to provide RentSafeTO information directly to tenants. We’ll be back at City Hall soon to push for these changes and more, but for now, we celebrate!

Build Power - Demand Change - Share Victories - REPEAT! 🚩