The Ottawa chapter of a community-based international organization started a campaign Wednesday to have more tenants voting in the 2010 municipal election.
ACORN’s “My Rent My Vote: Tenants Vote 2010” aims to have tenant issues at the forefront during and after the election, while encouraging low and middle income residents to vote.
ACORN members rally outside the Heron Community Centre
Members of the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now held events in Herongate and in Vanier which included rallies, chants and mailing postcard-style petitions to city councillors.
They said there are three major issues they want city councillors to address: proactive inspections, mandatory licencing for landlords and the establishment of an escrow fund, so that tenants can withhold rent from landlords who do not meet basic conditions.
“I know and understand there is a need for this,” said Ana Mata Suriel, an ACORN member.
The rally was held beside a massive rental development owned by Toronto-based Transglobe.
“They’re like an absentee landlord,” said Fran Going, who has lived in the development since it was run by Minto, “it leaves a great deal to be desired.”
While the campaign will primarily focus on the three major issues, simply raising the profile of low income residents is the main point, said organizer Michelle Walrond.
Walrond, a grandmother who said her grandson has to be home-schooled due an illness he acquired thanks to a moldy rental unit, said it isn’t easy to get things changed if you have a low income.
“You’re ignored, you’re disrespected, and you’re cheated,” she said, and that, she added, is why ACORN exists.
“We want the city bureaucracy to know – we’ve figured it out!” she said. “The person who comes up with something for low or moderate income people? He’s got my vote.”