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NDP leader Jagmeet Singh addresses Hamilton’s rental crisis

Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was in downtown Hamilton on Tuesday addressing the city’s rental crisis. Singh outlined a plan that he says will help lower rent, stop renovictions and save affordable homes for the people who need them. He is calling on the minority liberal government to cooperate.
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Singh, local NDP MP Matthew Green, and Hamilton mountain MPP Monique Taylor met with members of the Corktown Co-Opperative Homes on Forest Avenue. They say they have a plan to allow for more co-op homes like it in the city.
“While people across this country are worried about the cost of groceries going up, the cost of rent going up, the cost of mortgage going up, here in this cooperative, one thing that they are certain is that they are not worried about their homes,” Singh said.
Singh says there is a rental crisis in Hamilton, with rent increasing by 15.3 per cent since last year for a one-bedroom and a rise in renoviction tactics by landlords.
“That’s why we’re proposing that at the national level, we need an acquisition fund. To allow not-for-profit organizations, community groups, to purchase the building instead of developers, and keep those buildings affordable,” Singh said.
Singh pointed to the tenants of 272 Caroline St. South, who banded together to try and buy the building to protect themselves from rent hikes, and renoviction. “They woke up one day to the threat of a developer purchasing their building, and them losing their homes, people that have lived in these buildings for decades are now wondering, ‘What’s going to happen? Are we going to lose our house? Where are we going to go?'”
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Emily Power a tenant of the building says they are very close to closing on the deal to purchase their building but she says they are still negotiating with their landlord. She says while a federal acquisition fund would help, more needs to be done.
“I think there needs to be a much larger strategy to combat that kind of renoviction profit-seeking by landlords. I think a large part of that can come from tenants getting organized and pushing back. Given that we are under threat of losing our homes right now, we can’t wait until the next federal election,” Power said.
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Local NDP MP Matthew Green says Justin Trudeau’s liberal government needs to take action and cooperate with the proposal.
“The federal government under the CMHC, used to be responsible for housing. They have shirked their responsibilities, they downloaded it to the provinces, then in the 90s the provinces downloaded it onto the municipalities. As a former city counsellor, I can tell you that no municipality across the country has the ability to fund adequate housing. It is impossible based on property taxes.”
When asked if he would go to the polls over housing, Singh said, “Absolutely. We want to make sure Canadians know they can find a home they can afford, grow a family in and that they can be safe in. That’s what we want to do and we know it’s achievable, and we will absolutely go to the polls on this.”
CHCH News reached out to mayor Andrea Horwath’s office for comment, but she was unavailable for an interview.
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