Homelessness was at a level of crisis when Ottawa City Council declared the housing emergency in January 2020 but the situation has only worsened. Not only is Ottawa not building enough new low rent affordable housing, we are losing much of the older, affordable housing stock.
- 1,900 people, including children, sleep in shelters every night in Ottawa.
- The number of people sleeping outside has doubled since the beginning of the pandemic.
- At least 2,500 households in Ottawa are at risk of eviction because they haven’t been able to pay their rent during the pandemic. There is no deeply affordable housing for them to move to.
- Unsafe evictions continue in Ontario as tenants face mounting rent arrears that will only become more difficult to pay.
TAKE ACTION:
- Sign and share this petition, asking the province to ban evictions during the pandemic and pay the rent arrears of all Ontario tenants who have been unable to pay rent.
- Share information on the City’s rent relief program called the Emergency Health and Social Services fund. Download these images and share this information far and wide.
RESOURCES:
For more information on the issue and for our recommendations on increasing the supply of affordable housing and stopping the loss of affordable housing, take a look at our Progress Report updates.
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1 Housing Emergency 2021
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