Abandonment Issues has completed our Use It or Lose It bylaw. Our report is based on months of research on the unique property abandonment issues that the City of Toronto faces. But we hope this project will extend beyond our city walls. We have already been contacted by the City of Ottawa, activists from Evansville, Indiana, architects from the Philippines, and other municipalities interested in pursuing an expropriative strategy against vacancy, divestment, and the terrors of speculative capital.

Please follow the link to a policy brief summarizing our position and recommendations: http://individual.utoronto.ca/property/UseItorLoseItBylawBrief.pdf [1]

The full report can be found at: http://individual.utoronto.ca/property/AI_report.pdf [2]

Stay tuned for our event launch for the Use It or Lose It bylaw in May 2008. We hope to feature speakers and artists who feel the material impacts of the affordable housing crisis most directly and are actively working against the poverty and class discriminations causing precarious shelter in one of the richest countries on earth.