Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO)
Automatically compiled listing. Details may contain errors.2 lawyers · City of Toronto
One of 2,276 law firms listed in Toronto, and one of 53 handling Landlord & Tenant.
Accepts Legal Aid
Accepts Legal AidAbout Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO)
ACTO is a specialty community legal clinic that works on housing issues for low-income tenants across Ontario. Legal Aid Ontario funds the clinic, and its provincial mandate shapes the work: systemic housing issues, taken up through appeals and test cases that other legal clinics and tenant or housing advocacy groups usually refer in.
Tenants with a hearing at the Landlord and Tenant Board can turn to ACTO's Tenant Duty Counsel Program. Legal professionals on the program's staff give unrepresented tenants remote advice, legal assistance, resources and referrals on or before the hearing day, and tenants facing eviction get priority. ACTO funds 30 legal clinics across the province to deliver the program.
The clinic's mission is housing justice and human rights for low-income Ontarians, pursued through law reform, community organizing, training and education. The Low Income Energy Network, run jointly with the Canadian Environmental Law Association, adds an energy focus.
Practice areas
Your Way Forward
Tenants whose housing legal issues result from gender-based violence can receive legal services, case management and limited counselling through Your Way Forward. Access runs through referral by a community agency that serves survivors.
Fees & payment
Legal aidMilestones & recognition
- ACTO has celebrated 25 years of advancing tenants' access to justice.
In the community
- An August 2023 release from ACTO shared an open letter to all of Ontario's municipal leaders in which a coalition of community and specialty legal clinics called recent attempts at encampment evictions cruel and unconstitutional.
- For the 2026 municipal election, ACTO published nonpartisan guidance that helps Ontario tenants prepare, locate voting resources and put housing questions to candidates.
Affiliations & connections
- Canadian Environmental Law Association: The Low Income Energy Network is a joint program of ACTO and the Canadian Environmental Law Association.
Legal support staff 1
Law clerks, paralegals and articling students at this firm. They are not licensed lawyers.
Frequently asked questions
- My Landlord and Tenant Board hearing is within 10 days. How do I get ACTO's Tenant Duty Counsel?
- ACTO asks tenants with a hearing in the next 10 days to sign up for service at tdc.acto.ca. Tenant Duty Counsel will only be able to call on or a few days before the hearing day.
- Who sits on ACTO's board of directors?
- ACTO is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. Directors come from communities across Ontario, among them low-income tenants, tenant advocates, community legal clinic staff and organizers.
Where to find them
1500-55 University Ave, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2H7
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Personal InjuryThis listing was generated by AI from public sources in October 2026. It may contain errors, and we can’t guarantee it’s accurate or complete. Before you rely on anything here, verify it on the firm’s own website. Verify licence status in the Law Society of Ontario directory ↗
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