Due to circumstances beyond our control, this week’s episode of the Guelph Politicast is a combination of two interviews from recent editions of Open Sources Guelph. Housing remains a big issue in this city, as we saw as recently as last night’s council meeting, but housing is an Ontario-wide issue too so for this episode of the pod we will open our gaze to areas beyond our borders.

Two times now, Waterloo Region has tried to evict a homeless encampment on the site of proposed transit hub project in Kitchener, and twice an Ontario court has upheld the Charter rights of the people living there. Now, the Region and the Ontario government are trying to take things to the Court of Appeals, but will they have any greater success there? In part one, Waterloo Region Community Legal Services executive director Ashley Schuitema, who represents the residents, will tell us why she’s holding all the cards.

For years, we’ve been waiting for all levels of government to make substantial progress on getting more affordable homes built, but some advocates are now wondering if maybe working within the present system is worth their while. In part 2 we will be joined by Matt Whitfield and Gaetan Heroux, organizers of the People’s Assembly for Housing Justice, who tell us why fighting Toronto’s housing crisis may not involve getting involved in the local election this fall.

So let’s look at some housing issues beyond the immediate Guelph area on this week’s Guelph Politicast!

You can learn more about the Waterloo Region Community Legal Services, including updates about the fight for the Kitchener encampment on their website. You can learn more about the Parkdale Housing Justine Network on Instagram and you can learn about the Toronto Tenant Union at their website. If you would like to learn more about Guelph’s own nascent tenant union will be taking part in Breezy Breakfast this Thursday at 8 am at Uptown Grill.

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Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.