Based on widespread input from Scarborough communities, SCAN has a mandate to focus on the equity issue of AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR LOW-TO-MODERATE INCOME INDIVIDUALS LIVING IN MARKET RENTAL HOUSING through supporting civic engagement in the following ways:
1. INFORMATION-SHARING about (a) laws and policies related to affordable market rental housing and (b) tenants’ rights including:
- Regularly includes links to tenants’ rights websites and laws and policies in newsletter
- Collect information regularly from housing advocates
- Feature Scarborough residents to show successful actions, etc
- Profile housing advocates to show successful actions
2. CAPACITY-BUILDING to enable Scarborough residents to learn about housing rights and how to influence and shape policy-making and how to talk to politicians about problems/concerns that will include:
- Holding online workshops that inform people about (a) their rights as a tenant; (b) how people can organize to create and influence policy change and (c) tools for engaging effectively with politicians about problems/concerns
- Input about content from affordable housing campaign advisory group
- Working with community grassroots groups to hold workshops
3. CIVIC ACTION CAMPAIGNS that will focus on ways to (a) preserve and support affordable housing through rent supports, rent control or other ways and (b) build or make available more affordable housing by
- Creating an affordable housing campaign advisory group consisting of tenant residents
- Conducting a tenants’ rights/issues campaign that includes awareness affordable housing relation to people’s income, ways to support affordable housing for tenants, and look at many ways to build more affordable housing including the possibility of creating a land trust
- Support campaign actions, group organizing and connecting to campaigns and work already being done
Priority communities for 2020-21 are
- the working poor
- racialized communities
- women
- residents in underserved neighbourhoods
- immigrants
- seniors
- using an intersectional lens: low income working racialized immigrant senior women living in underserved neighbourhoods
