ACORN tenants’ union holds rental conditions forum 

Nearly 100 people gathered at a forum discussing housing problems and potential solutions in the Halifax Regional Municipality on Sept. 21.

The Fix Our Rentals forum, organized by the ACORN tenants union and hosted at the Halifax Central Library saw tenants recount their struggles, ACORN introduce their ongoing solutions and the group discuss how to be better represented by the HRM. Four HRM councillors attended the forum

“We stand with tenants. We lobby politicians, welcome councillors, and we do that for the things that lower- and moderate- income people need,” says Tim Allenby, chair of ACORN’s Dartmouth chapter who co-hosted the event.

“The energy in the room was amazing,” says Allenby. “We got our point across to council. I don’t know what we could have done better. It’s peak.”

ACORN is a group for people with low and moderate income that lobbies for better renter conditions, with almost 200,000 members across six provinces. The organization charges $15 per month to be a member.

ACORN is advocating for the HRM to increase proactive inspections and hire more inspectors. They hope to implement a colour-grading system similar to what is used in Toronto, where colours will rank whether a building is deemed safe. 

Miriam Williams is a leader of ACORN’s chapter in Halifax and co-hosted the event. She says ACORN prides itself on being “the community standing up for itself,” with most of its representatives and members being tenants. 

She says ACORN members pushed to hold the event, as they were tired of their demands for basic maintenance, pest control and repairs for their homes being ignored.

“Mice, roaches, bedbugs, water shut off, holes in our drywall … and worst of all, staff who seem to throw our concerns out with the trash,” Williams said, followed by a chant of “shame” from forum attendees. 

HRM District 16 Bedford-Wentworth councillor, Jean St-Amand, sat in the front row at the forum and said he attended for “information gathering.” 

“Hearing residents talk about the specific issues that they face on a day-to-day basis is the job,” St-Amand says. “It was valuable to hear it directly from people.”

ACORN previously advocated for a rental registry in the HRM, which council established in 2023. Now, ACORN is working to strengthen it, and many landlords still have not added their properties to it. 

“We are here to urge the city to help us make HRM’s rental registry actually work for tenants,” said Williams. 

During the presentation segment, selected tenants came prepared to share their experiences renting in Halifax. They emphasized issues such as bylaw discrepancies and long wait times for repairs.  

Laura, a longtime ACORN member, says the event’s discussion resonated with her experience of poor conditions from her landlords. She asked to be identified by her first name only due to her ongoing landlord dispute. 

She says her former residence used to be five units of affordable one-bedroom apartments in downtown Halifax, but her landlords converted all of them but hers to Airbnbs.  Laura says there are holes in the roof and walls, mould, mice and damaged floors. 

“I suspect that the landlords are just allowing my unit to deteriorate and deteriorate,” she says. “We’re too afraid to push it further because I suspect they’re allowing it to degenerate to the point where they could do a rent eviction the first chance they get.” 

The Fix Our Rentals forum is just one way ACORN is pushing to expand tenant education, aiming to educate renters on using resources such as reporting their concerns through 311. 

ACORN hopes their work helps limit the risk tenants constantly put themselves in when coming forward about issues, especially in cases like Laura’s.

With files from Hailey Jackson, assistant news editor.