Housing Justice and Tenant Rights with Ricardo Tranjan and Meg Walker

Join us in collaboration with the Social Development Centre Waterloo Region and Textile for an in person conversatio on housing justice! Political economist Ricardo Tranjan will introduce the central argument of his book The Tenant Class, which reframes the so-called “housing crisis” as a site of class struggle between tenants and landlords. Meg Walker, a local tenant organizer with the Social Development Centre, will then guide discussion using questions gathered through her organizing work, followed by audience Q&A. Afterward, we’ll continue upstairs in the lounge for food, conversation, and relationship-building.

About the book:
The Tenant Class places tenants and landlords on opposite sides of a class divide and challenges dominant myths about renters, affordability, and housing markets. Drawing on Canada’s history of collective action, Tranjan argues that organized tenants have the power to fight for decent homes and fair rent.

Ricardo Tranjan directs the research program for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Ontario, focusing on collaboration and movement building. Ricardo’s expertise centres on Ontario public finances and the political economy of social policy, especially public education funding, income support programs, and rental housing. He is a frequent commentator in the media and public speaker.

Meg Walker has been organizing in Waterloo Region for a decade around housing and climate justice. She works with the Social Development Centre’s Eviction Prevention Team alongside tenants resisting mass evictions and displacement.

- Doors open at 5:00 pm and the event runs through to 8:30 pm

- Location: University of Waterloo - Building: East Campus 5 (EC5) - Room: 1101

- (It's a 5-minute walk from the University of Waterloo GRT ION Stop)

These events are presented by The Theorypractice Lab at the University of Waterloo (https://uwaterloo.ca/theorypractice-lab/) in collaboration with the Social Development Centre of the Waterloo Region (https://www.waterlooregion.org/) and Textile (https://textilekw.ca/) a hyper-local arts collective supporting writers and artists with connections to Waterloo Region, Ontario, particularly those from historically excluded and marginalized groups.

All events are supported by the University of Waterloo Faculty of Health EDI-AR Seed Fund.

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Host or Publisher The Theorypractice Lab, University of Waterloo