Disputes over tenant evictions on the rise: SFU study

Renter anxiety is on the rise in Metro Vancouver, with eviction-related disputes and concerns spread throughout the region to suburbs such as Maple Ridge and Port Coquitlam, according to preliminary findings from a new Simon Fraser University study.

Researchers analyzed data from the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) and the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre (TRAC) to try to gauge the impact of the region’s housing affordability crisis on renters in the private rental sector — an under-studied demographic despite making up one-third of all households in Metro Vancouver.

The data used in the pilot study is “just the tip of the iceberg,” said SFU geography professor Nicholas Blomley, who co-authored the report with SFU professor Andy Yan and graduate research assistant Natalia Perez.

“This doesn’t tell us about all the evictions happening in Metro Vancouver. This is just the stuff that gets disputed.”

The study found that the proportion of calls regarding evictions made to TRAC has increased from 19 per cent in 2010 to 26 per cent in 2016.

Residential Tenancy Branch data from 2006-17 showed that Maple Ridge has the region’s highest number of eviction-related disputes per renter households, with an average of 66 disputes per 1,000 renter households. The Metro average is 32.

Surrey was next with 53, followed by Port Coquitlam at 49.

The RTB data breaks down eviction-related disputes into three categories: landlord use, unpaid rent, or cause.

At five per cent, Vancouver has the highest proportion of disputes regarding landlord use, a broad term that covers renovictions, demovictions, or a landlord selling the unit, followed by Richmond at 4.3 per cent and North Vancouver at four per cent.

Unpaid rent made up the highest number of eviction-related disputes at 39 per cent, with Surrey, New Westminster and Maple Ridge over-represented, while end of tenancy due to cause made up slightly more than 14 per cent of all eviction disputes in the region.

Blomley noted that about 60 per cent of all eviction-related applications were landlord initiated, which could be indicative of the power relationship between landlords and tenants.