Canadian Housing and Tenant Activists Launch the National Tenant Organizing Fund
30 January 2026
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[Toronto, ON] Housing and tenant activists from around Canada are banding together to form a new National Tenant Organizing Fund (NTOF).
Renters have been under attack throughout Canada facing exploding rental costs, poor maintenance and lack of enforcement of their rights. The NTOF is a response: a centralized, sustained funding stream to support grassroots tenant organizing across Canada. This fund will prioritize long-term capacity-building, regional equity, and the empowerment of communities most impacted by housing injustice.
“No one at a government level is coming to fight for tenants or save them,” said NTOF Steering Committee member, Geordie Dent, a Toronto tenant-rights activist. “That’s why we’re establishing a national funding source dedicated to tenant organizing.”
In most of Canada, there is no national organization to represent tenants, no unified advocacy to defend their rights, and no public funding to build tenant power. This absence leaves millions without a collective voice.
“This fund will provide consistent, accessible, and transparent financial support to tenant unions across Canada. It will also serve as a venue to foster cross-regional solidarity, strengthen tenant leadership, and lay the groundwork for additional elements of a transformative housing justice movement,” said Dent.
The National Tenant Organizing Fund (NTOF) was born out of the Housing Justice Convergence in March 2025, which brought together more than 32 community partners and over 280 attendees from across Canada. This gathering underscored the urgency of creating national infrastructure for tenant organizing and seeded the idea of a collective fund to sustain this work.
In establishing the NTOF it was important to us that those closest to the work decide where resources go. The Fund’s primary decision-making body is the National Advisory Committee, made up of 6 different membership-based tenant groups from across Canada.
For more information and media inquiries, please contact:
Geordie Dent
NTOF Steering Committee
Email: enidgodtree@gmail.com
The NTOF is supported by Housing Justice Now: HousingJustice.Now exists to fuel a national movement: one that defends housing as a human right and puts homes back in the hands of communities. We’re connecting tenant organizers, sharing winning strategies, and building the infrastructure needed to transform Canada’s housing system.
