Tenants
The Tenants’ Committee of the Glebe Community Association was created to deal with issues that are specific to tenants. The representative on the Board is a tenant and therefore also provides a tenant's perspective on other issues. It may come as a surprise to many that tenants make up 44% of the residents of the Glebe. The Glebe-Dows Lake Neighbourhood study reported on this fact this year. It was also noted that 41% of the dwellings in the Glebe are apartment buildings.
In the first few months of 2010, major fires hit three apartment buildings, affecting a total of twenty-seven apartments in the Glebe. Twenty-four of the apartments were completely destroyed. There was a great outpouring of generosity from Glebe residents and citizens of Ottawa, offering donations of furniture, clothing, and money to those who had lost their homes. The Tenants’ Committee helped put the victims of the fire in touch with those offering donations and liaised with both the Salvation Army and City of Ottawa to find out about housing options for those affected. Leslie Fulton and other community members organized benefits to raise money for the victims and the GCA opened an account at the Royal Bank of Canada to receive the donations. The Tenants’ Committee assisted with both the Glebe Dance Extravaganza and Great Glebe Fire Fundraiser.
In the fall we plan to work with the City of Ottawa Fire Services and other groups to organize a meeting about fire safety and tenants’ rights.
The Tenants’ Committee is looking for volunteers, so if anyone is interested in joining the committee please contact tenants@glebeca.ca