Wake up.Wake up.Wake up.

We had a turning point when our friend ended up in the ER because of an acute respiratory condition. Luckily, he survived, and he was told by doctors that he has a respiratory weakness exacerbated by mold in the place he lives in. Since then, we have learned that there are many more people like our friend, and countless others whose health is affected by living in homes full of mold and asbestos, but not in such a dramatic way.

It’s a well-known fact that homes built between 1945 and 1970 were built with extensive use of asbestos. It’s also well known that 50- to 70-year-old homes have 2x4 wall construction, and the insulation inside these walls sags, which in wintertime creates condensation inside the walls that then turns into black mold. Also, 50- to 70-year-old foundations were built without any waterproofing or drainage, and with the recent heavy floods, many of them are seeping water behind basement walls, which eventually becomes black mold. Industry sources recognize that foundations in 50–70-year-old homes may exhibit accumulated cracking and deterioration from decades of freeze–thaw exposure, moisture infiltration and soil movement.

Unfortunately, many students and people with low income have no other option but to live in these old homes. Especially harmful are illegal lodging homes, where a landlord splits a small old bungalow with a basement into 6–8 bedrooms. 100% of them are done illegally, with no permits from the city, so no asbestos abatement is done, and the people living there are in direct danger of being exposed to asbestos and mold.

Recently, we have new for-rent townhomes built in areas that are in high demand among students and other low-income individuals. The buildings are brand new, built according to the latest building code, and some of them to the highest CMHC energy standard. This is very important from an environmental/climate perspective, because old homes — all of them — have sagging insulation, many have single-pane windows, and they are terribly energy-inefficient.

From an environmental point of view, it would be right to compare old homes to old cars burning 30–40 liters of gas per 100 km, while a new home is more like a brand-new Mazda using only 6 liters per 100 km. The new buildings are built through the CMHC/federal government affordable housing program.

Unfortunately, there is a great deal of opposition to new buildings from groups who don’t want people with low income to live in their neighborhood. These groups, which affordable housing tenants call “Affluent bigots,” are well organized and are spending millions trying to prevent affordable housing from being built.

They have direct influence on the City of Edmonton council, which is constantly changing the zoning bylaw, trying to make building and operating new housing harder and harder, to block the federal government’s effort to provide more affordable homes.

For example, while the city does nothing to enforce the existing bylaw on illegal 6–8-room lodging homes full of mold and asbestos, council is working on a bylaw to declare new 3-bedroom units as lodging homes.

All of that is happening because so much money and effort come from Affluent bigots, who come to City of Edmonton council meetings and literally scream at city councillors, and no one comes from the side of the people in need of healthy, affordable housing to raise their voice for the cause.

This is a true class struggle of our times.

The City of Edmonton knows all too well how damaging mold and asbestos are to public health, and it requires builders to do full abatement of homes before demolition, but it NEVER informs the people living in these homes full of mold and asbestos that their dwelling has hazardous materials. There is no obligation for the landlord to disclose to the tenant that a home has hazardous materials, like there is in California.