Guelph Renters Union & Housing Advocates

03/22/2021

"About a quarter of those sitting in Parliament, and more than 18 per cent of those sitting in the Ontario Legislature, reported supplementing their salaries with rental income in 2020."

A review of public records reveals that since the beginning of the pandemic, at least eight MPs disclosed new rental property assets.

03/12/2021

To fellow tenants, supporters, and members of GRUHA, we are asking for your help and have a call for donations to the Tenant Solidarity Support Fund.

Click through the images to find out more about the Support Fund!

More information as well as where to donate can be found here: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/contribute-to-the-gruha-tenant-solidarity-fund

03/02/2021

We really can't put it more concisely than the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations.

"Evictions spread COVID and kill people."

12/14/2020

"After settling property taxes (coincidentally also $1,906 per unit on average), the landlord is essentially siphoning $7,420 from the wages of each of their tenants. For $11,232 [per year], a US tenant can expect $1,906 in maintenance and landscaping services on average, in addition to not having to pay the property tax — and that’s it. In return for arranging those services, the average landlord can expect to be free from the kinds of wage-labor that most renters have no choice but to perform if they wish to enjoy the privilege of a roof over their heads."

The history of landlords; how modern real-estate and housing grew from concepts of land-ownership and tenancy that developed under feudalism

12/14/2020

Michael Kinney, whose family has lived in the Red House for 65 years, says they are fighting against systemic racism and gentrification

12/11/2020

Agree or disagree, this is a compelling article.

"[H]erein lies the problem with UBI. Without directly addressing the commodified housing market, UBI works like a never-ending capital-bailout-carousel that simply reroutes public money into the pockets of property owners by way of its recipients, simultaneously propping up an outrageous housing crisis. If a basic income program is in motion when the economy eventually kicks back into gear, this is exactly what it’ll do. It won’t intervene in the market in any meaningful way; it’ll sustain it. In fact, UBI will make it worse: since everyone’s receiving money each month, what’s stopping the system from accommodating that mass influx of cash by inflating housing values and raising rents accordingly? What’s stopping investors from continuing to gamble, to speculate, to rip you off? If we’re to bring about a fairer society, social spending can’t be seen as good in and of itself—we need to follow it to find its function in the overall economy, right to whose pocket it goes. And following the money brings you to multi-propertied landowners, to domestic and international capital, to people whose main contribution to society was securitizing it.

The market gave us these problems. Why should we use the market to solve them?"

To better address inequality, we might first consider the comparatively unsexy, un-new idea of pursuing public housing and housing decommodification on a massive scale—call it a public housing revolution. Building tens of thousands of new social housing units every year, thus addressing backlogs a...

12/01/2020

Eviction, homelessness, illness and death are considered to be acceptable outcomes of the state’s pro-landlord policies.

12/01/2020

"Food banks in Burlington, Cornwall, Kanata, Orillia and Windsor surveyed close to 200 or their visitors in September and found each said the pandemic had made the challenges they already faced much more difficult, the report says.

'Many survey respondents reported incurring increased debt to help pay for monthly necessities, as well as choosing to go without food in order to pay the bills,' the document says.

'Perhaps most staggering is that one out of two survey respondents reported that they are worried about facing eviction or defaulting on their mortgage in the coming months.'"

COVID-19 caused surge in demand for food banks, which was already on the rise: report

12/01/2020

The eviction of people trying to get by in encampments is always unacceptable, especially during a pandemic.

This weekend the City of Guelph and Guelph Police Forces demonstrated again that they are complicit in extending the public health crisis that is homelessness.

Read the full story and comment on GuelphToday.