Housing Hope Community Meeting: Sept 12 - Calgary
It is time for HOUSING HOPE - we’re taking ACTION NOW for HOUSING is a HUMAN RIGHT at the time of Calgary’s growing housing EMERGENCY!
My name is Anne Landry. I am a Calgarian for HOUSING is a HUMAN RIGHT and a member of the Kerby Centre. Perhaps we met at the Calgarians for HOUSING is a HUMAN RIGHT booth at Seniors Expo 2023 earlier this year, in April, or at the Alberta Cares! Rally For Housing and Homelessness in Calgary in May, or as I was placing Flyers/Posters in communities in Calgary for the CHANGE.ORG petition to Require landlords to appear at the House of Commons Review of financialization and rent gouging.
I am leading a HOUSING HOPE community meeting at the Kerby Centre Lecture Room in Calgary, Alberta on Tuesday September 12, 2023 from 1PM to 2PM, with doors opening at 12:30PM. We’re taking action NOW for HOUSING is a HUMAN RIGHT! This is a FREE event. With support from/guests: the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, Voice of Albertans with Disabilities, National Pensioners Federation; BeTheChangeYYC; and Calgary Raging Grannies.. It’s easy to get to the Kerby Centre at 1133 7th Avenue S.W. - just get off at the Kerby Centre C-Train stop! Limited parking is also available.
Seating is limited so please EMAIL me to confirm your attendance at: info@CalgariansForHousingRights.ca
The HOUSING HOPE community meeting in Calgary on September 12 is an opportunity to learn about housing human rights and actions you can take NOW to protect your human right to housing, to protect renters/homeowners and to protect the current supply of affordable, accessible, adequate, secure-tenure/stay housing. What is YOUR STORY? How are YOU standing up for YOUR housing human rights? What are YOUR recommendations? What is YOUR “BIG IDEA” for housing help NOW for the most vulnerable?
We’ll be taking a look at the housing human rights that ALL Canadians have under LAW, priority groups under Canada’s National Housing Strategy and as recognized by the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate and the responsibilities of ALL levels of government at the time of the growing HOUSING-CLIMATE EMERGENCY in Calgary.
We will also discuss some opportunities to TAKE ACTION NOW - including at the time of the announcement of the NEW 4-year Housing Strategy of The City of Calgary Council’s Community Development Committee announcement anticipated on Thursday September 14, 2023.
Do you know that the House of Commons HUMA* Committee in Ottawa, Ontario is holding a review regarding financialization, rent gouging, renovictions and related issues? *HUMA = House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. See at: https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/HUMA/StudyActivity?studyActivityId=12152852.
I have provided a BRIEF entitled: STOP THE HARM. STOP Predatory Financialization of Housing and RENT GOUGING. Over 40 BRIEFS have been provided to the HUMA Committee, including by National Pensioners Federation, THE SHIFT, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Co-Operative Housing Federation of Canada, Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, Canadian Center for Women’s Empowerment (CCFWE), DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada, Ontario Nonprofit Network and MORE!
Financialization of housing refers to treating housing as a for-profit commodity for investment and not as a human right or social good – not as a home. In essence, putting profits first – not people first. Research before the Federal Housing Advocate reveals that Corporate investment in housing is linked to unaffordable rents, evictions, and long-term care deaths.
The Federal Housing Advocate now speaks of Canada’s housing emergency. In her presentation before the HUMA Committee on May 9, 2023, Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate stated:
“Financialization is causing real harm to people in Canada, and it is a serious human rights issue… it's also causing real harm to individuals, families and communities…The key word in all of this is ‘harm’. This is why Canada needs to treat financialization as a serious human rights issue and also as a key component in addressing the housing crisis overall…. When we realize the right to adequate housing for all, all of Canada benefits. Our economy benefits, communities benefit and people benefit.”
Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate, envisions a new approach to providing adequate housing supply that she referred to in The Office of the Federal Housing Advocate’s 2022-2023 Annual Report to the Minister - ADVOCATING FOR CHANGE: THE HOUSING CRISIS IN CANADA (page 49):
“We need to take a new approach to providing adequate housing supply. This means funding the development, repair, and acquisition of housing supply that is not-for-profit, permanently affordable, and provides community value in exchange for government investment.”
Importantly, The Federal Housing Advocate requested during her presentation on Tuesday May 9, 2023 that the HUMA Committee call industry witnesses and their DATA to account for their practices that undermine housing affordability, security of tenure and habitability. See the CHANGE.ORG petition that echoes this request: Require landlords to appear at House of Commons Review of Financialization & Rent Gouging at https://www.change.org/p/summons-landlords-with-data-to-house-of-commons-review-on-financialization-rent-gouging. Please sign the petition!
The Federal Housing Advocate has also recommended developing enduring rent controls and tenant protections, mechanisms to de-financialize ownership, and through the National Housing Strategy, create more non-profit, housing co-op and non-market housing, as well as create an acquisition fund for non-market organizations to purchase housing from financialized landlords in order to keep housing affordable into perpetuity.
ALL levels of government need to take IMMEDIATE ACTION to address the growing housing EMERGENCY in Calgary. It seems that it is the WILD, WILD WEST in Calgary and throughout Alberta – with rents and housing costs escalating out of control and out of affordability of many. This occurs at a time that the Alberta Residential Tenancies Act provides few protections to tenants and does NOT recognize the progressive right to adequate housing as per the National Housing Strategy Act, 2019 and international Law including the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
As a result of unaffordable rents in Calgary, I have heard of: people living in cars; people with Masters degrees unable to find a place to rent; people having to return to live with their parents; students and newcomers unable to find affordable housing; people unable to afford food; seniors being rent-gouged out of their homes and unable to age-in-place; people unable to find a pet-friendly place to rent; people unable to find accessible housing…and MORE. This includes comments from people who signed the CHANGE.ORG petition: Require landlords to appear at House of Commons Review of Financialization & Rent Gouging.
Tim Richter President and CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness and Co-Chair of the National Housing Council spoke at the House of Commons HUMA Committee Review regarding financialization, rent gouging and renovictions on Tuesday June 6, 2023. See the Youtube video – Tim Richter on Financialization of Housing in Canada at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjUt9GUeYSk.
“Canada, right now, is under a wave of new homelessness on the same scale as Canada’s largest natural disasters. People are being pushed out of their housing by huge increases in cost of rent…”
See you at the HOUSING HOPE community meeting on Sept 12 in Calgary!
We can do this together!
Please email to confirm your attendance to: info@CalgariansForHousingRights.ca
Final Thoughts:
Can’t make the meeting? Please consider signing the CHANGE.ORG petition: Require landlords to appear at House of Commons Review of Financialization & Rent Gouging.
Let’s raise our voices in song! See the housing songs of the Calgary Raging Grannies at https://calgary.raginggrannies.org/wp/current-gig-lyrics/.
Can’t make that day/time but would like to attend a future HOUSING HOPE Community Meeting in Calgary? Or you don’t live in Calgary but would like to host your own HOUSING HOPE Community Meeting? Email Anne at: info@CalgariansForHousingRights.ca