HOUSING NOW:

Take Action to Support the Expropriation of Vacant Units for Emergency Housing

This week  Toronto City Councillors will vote on a motion that would call on the Federal government to use their emergency powers to expropriate vacant hotel and apartment units to help solve the housing and homelessness crisis in Toronto. 

Instead of criminalizing homelessness, we need bold and decisive action to save lives. Use our tool to send a message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mayor John Tory and your local Councillor and MP.

As temperatures drop and COVID-19 cases rise, we need urgent action to ensure people have access to a safe, warm place indoors for those who are currently living in encampments and who are worried about taking spaces in  crowded warming shelters. 

While the City can try to sign leases to expand the number of shelter hotels and housing units, they don’t have the power to compel hotel operators with vacant rooms, or owners of buildings with vacant apartments, to lease to them immediately. But the Federal government does. Under the Federal government’s powers, they could take ownership of those vacant rooms immediately and address these issues. We need to access these hotel rooms now.

This call comes as Council awaits a report on urgent housing measures at the Council meeting this week. We need Councillors to support this action now, and we also need the support of our Toronto MPs to make this a reality.

All levels of government need to take immediate action to house people experiencing homelessness.