Bed-bound quadriplegic wins judge’s reprieve

A bed-bound quadriplegic man who feared he might end up homeless after receiving an eviction notice is grateful that a judge has given him a reprieve.

In December, Guy Trevor Williamson, 54, received a “notice to end tenancy” from his landlord, Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation, for nonpayment of rent.

Williamson, who relies on disability benefits from the B.C. government, and his mother had shared the rent for their East Vancouver townhouse on Corsica Way until she died in August.

The landlord, a non-profit organization that provides affordable housing for lowand middle-income people, issued the eviction notice after finding it couldn’t deduct rent from Williamson’s mom’s bank account in December, due to insufficient funds.

Williamson’s benefits were only paying for $400 of the roughly $1,000 monthly rent.

Williamson tried unsuccessfully to get a subsidy so that he could stay in the home, where he has lived since 2003.

With the help of an occupational therapist case manager with Vancouver Coastal Health, he went to the residential tenancy branch in a bid to cancel the eviction order.

But an arbitrator refused after finding he had filed his challenge too late, a finding Williamson claims was in error. The arbitrator issued an “order of possession” for the housing corporation and he was ordered to move out by Feb. 15.

With the help of a lawyer with the Community Legal Assistance Society, Williamson filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court seeking to overturn the eviction order.

He also filed an application for a stay of the order until the matter could be addressed fully in court.

Last Thursday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Grauer put a temporary stop to the eviction order. Metro Vancouver, which was not represented at the hearing, is entitled to appeal the stay.

“I’m so thankful,” Williamson said Friday. “I don’t know whether it was on a compassionate basis or based on what he thought the facts were. I was just so grateful. The thought of having a bailiff or a sheriff come to your door, it’s intimidating but it also makes you feel shameful.”

Williamson, a father of three, said he was “pretty high functioning” until one day around 2010, when he suddenly collapsed. He was in bed for a month and eventually it was determined he had broken several vertebrae in his back.

He lives at the townhouse with one of his sons, who has serious mental health issues.

No response has been filed to the petition, which contains allegations that have not been tested in court.