FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
To prevent tenants from living in a nightmare of rats, frozen toilets, floods and an unresponsive landlord, ACORN will be rallying members and supporters TODAY at NOON in front of CITY HALL to demand the city crack down on slum landlords.
“We believe there’s an amazing opportunity here for the city to work with ACORN to tackle slum housing. The city has already recognized their responsibility to ensure tenants live in safe and healthy homes, we can tell them how to fix the holes that led to Devon’s situation,” says Evan Coole with Nova Scotia ACORN.
ACORN member Devon Berquist spoke out about her housing in a Metlege family-owned property to the CBC:
"I was away in Quebec for about four days and I came back home, opened the door and I heard water running so I ran upstairs and there was a geyser up to the ceiling from a pipe ... in the laundry room… I looked around, I noticed that the toilets were solid, solid ice blocks.”
Berquist and her roommates were left without heat or water for a day before the property manager did anything.
The HRM M-100 Housing By-laws are meant to ensure that tenants live in safe and healthy homes. Nova Scotia ACORN is asking the city to meet with them to discuss the flaws in by-law inspection and enforcement.
Nova Scotia ACORN is an affiliate of ACORN Canada, a national anti-poverty organization with over 50, 000 low and moderate income members organized into 20 neighborhood chapters in 7 cities across Canada. We fight for tenants rights, regulations on money-lenders, and a living wage.
For more information contact:
Evan Coole
Phone: (902) 405 1568
Email: j.evan.coole@gmail.com
Shay Enxuga
Phone: (902) 266 2956
Email: novascotia@acorncanada.org
The site for the Halifax local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.
