Jagmeet Singh speaks out against Webster Street apartment eviction notices in London, Ont.
Global News
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh spoke out against eviction notices sent to some tenants of two Webster Street apartments while in London, Ont., on Friday.
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh spoke out against eviction notices sent to some tenants of two Webster Street apartments while in London, Ont., Friday.
Speaking across the street from Webster Apartments, Singh says the NDP will push to introduce two pieces of legislation he says will help prevent situations like what is being seen on Webster Street.
“No one should be afraid to be renovicted or see their rent doubled because a housing profiteer bought their building to increase profits,” Singh said. “But unfortunately, that’s what is happening right now in these two buildings but also in many other places across the country.”
An NDP government would introduce legislation to create an affordable housing acquisition fund, Singh said. The fund would allow not-for-profit housing providers, or even municipalities, to purchase affordable units when they enter the market.
Singh says the goal of the fund would be to prevent for-profit corporations from owning and raising the rent on apartments.
The other legislative move the NDP would make is to place a moratorium on housing “profiteers” buying affordable homes, allowing not-for-profits a place in the market without competing against “deep-pocketed corporate landlords,” said Singh.
At the event, Singh was joined by NDP MP for London—Fanshawe Lindsay Mathyssen and multiple NDP provincial legislators.
Twenty tenants at the two apartments at 1270 and 1280 Webster Street received N13 notices late last month from the landlords, informing them they would need to vacate their home by the end of August for renovations to take place.