Aedan Helmer

Saturday Sun – News – March 17, 2007

With rent on the rise, vacancy rates plummeting and no end in sight to Ontario’s housing crisis, organizers of Ottawa’s first Tenants’ Conference hope to give renters a voice.

The all-day conference will be held at City Hall on march 24, featuring presentations from tenants’ rights groups, politicians and legal counsellors.

Empower them

“Tenants have not been given the information they need on how to deal with situations with their landlords, or with the city,” said conference organizer Rob MacDonald. “The purpose of the conference is to help empower them with that information.”

At the conference, tenants will receive legal advice on issues ranging from rent increases to eviction. They will also be encouraged to become politically mobilized to curb a trend that has seen vacancy rates in Ottawa steadily decline since 1995.

“I don’t think that city councillors are actually paying attention to the trend, and it’s getting worse. I don’t think they are aware of the consequences, that we are losing this affordable housing,” said Sandra Bender, an Ottawa resident invited to speak at the conference.

‘Tenants have not been given the information they need on how to deal with situations…’ Rob MacDonald

Bender led a group that brought Commvesco-Levinson Viner before a tribunal when the real estate giant converted her downtown apartment into luxury suites, forcing tenants out.

Toronto City Coun. Michael Walker will also make a presentation, focusing on tenants’ advocacy groups, which have played a part in keeping that city’s rental rates under control.

Walker has won a seat in nine consecutive municipal elections, advocating for tenants’ rights since entering politics in 1982.

“(Tenants) have a voice,” said Walker. “They may not have the organizing power and the power of money like developers and landlords, but they have the power in the ballot box.”