ACORN Canada march raises awareness on affordable housing

The cold and rainy weather Monday did not seem to be a problem for ACORN Canada members in Waterloo who were advocating for affordable housing.

Acer Bonaparte, the chair of ACORN Waterloo, hand delivered a binder to the office of Waterloo MP Bardish Chagger that contained over 400 testimonies. These were gathered by the organization from those who live in financialized and poor housing situations. Many of these testimonies were from residents of Waterloo Region.

The rally started at Waterloo Public Square station and ended at 100 Regina Street South, while advocates chanted, “We want housing reform now.”

Waterloo Region is just one of many regions where ACORN marched Monday to deliver testimonials to CMHC and MP offices in Canada.

“It’s following up on our last national day of action. On our last, across Canada we collected over 400 testimonies from tenants living in financialized housing which we provided in our report to the National Housing council’s review panel on the effects of financialized housing,” Bonaparte stated.

The marches also coincided with a hearing on Monday to discuss the testimonials brought upon by ACORN, due to many activists calling for change in response to the housing crisis. Bonaparte also said that while the hearing is a good thing, hand delivering the binder is an attempt to encourage change now.

“A review panel and a report is good and fine but it means nothing at all if there is no action taken,” Bonaparte said.

Mary Belle Jagorin is another member who marched with ACORN and she stated, “Our message is that the federal government needs to use its power to stop corporate landlords. We demand that the federal government take action to protect and grow affordable housing in Canada.”

Some of ACORN’s other goals include mandating rent control across all provinces and funding social housing so that low income people have access to affordable homes.