London’s first Tenant Support Fair took place on the second floor of City Hall. Several community organizations collaborated to bring this event to life.
“The city was not involved in the planning and organization of this event,” said one of the organizers, Andrea Smith. “Ethan Ling was the only person from the city who helped us by booking the City Hall’s room .”
She said that she started working on this idea back on Oct. 31.
“The city’s lack of participation was not that impactful, as people are more apt to get help from community organizations than from them,” Smith said.
Ward six councillor Sam Trosow, who attended the event, said that the housing situation is not an emergency anymore; it has become a crisis. Even though the city was not involved, Trosow noted that many city services were participating. He also pointed out that the event was being held in a city hall room.
“This situation is the worst it has ever been, and tenants feel that,” Trosow said.
London resident Dan Oudshoorn said that more people are pushed to live outside as they can not afford the housing prices anymore.
“We live in a society structured around maximizing profit from anything essential to the well-being and life of other people,” Oudshoorn said. “People have transformed the bare necessities of life into profit-generating markets. To survive, you have to generate more and more profit daily.”
According to Oudshoorn, the lack of affordable housing can also result in overcrowding in residences unsuited for communal life.
“Landlords who are rich enough to buy a property can certainly exploit that to become richer,” Oudshoorn said. “It is the responsibility of the municipal governance government to deny and control this.”
A Fanshawe student who wanted to remain anonymous said that he has been having issues with his landlord since coming to Canada in October.
“The lack of communication makes everything more difficult than it is,” he said. “We were not notified that we would have new roommates.”
He said that his roommates are drug addicts who like to smoke and do hard drugs inside the apartment, which leads to insecurity and discomfort for him and his girlfriend.
“The housing market for tenants in this country is a total rip-off,” he said.
Ward one counsellor Hadleigh McAlister, who was also there, said he is the only city counsellor currently renting.
“Most of your money goes to rent. Even as a councillor, I feel that much of my money goes to someone else to pay rent,” McAlister said.
McAlister said the event’s purpose was to educate and advocate.
“I expect the event helped the tenants understand and recognize their rights,” McAlister said.
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