Tenants forced out of rental units early, activists say
Relocation services offered to residents before development proposals approved
Developers are using relocation services to pressure Metrotownarea tenants out of their rental properties early, an anti-poverty group is alleging.
Murray Martin, with the group ACORN, said his organization started noticing a lot of tenants moving out of buildings where development proposals haven’t been finalized, including locations where Burnaby city council put a hold on public hearings for rezoning.
“The problem with this, No. 1, is it’s in the middle of a housing crisis and you’ve got hundreds of units sitting vacant that could be housing people,” Martin said.
In a report the organization is releasing today, ACORN highlights three cases of tenants moving out even though the city has put development applications on hold. Martin said they represent what is increasingly becoming a pattern.
Martin said that in the past, they wouldn’t see tenants leaving a building until development proposals had passed third reading at city council when developers would have authority to evict renters to make way for construction.
For ACORN, the vacancies are becoming a bigger issue in Burnaby, where it has counted 769 rental units lost to so-called demovictions with another 893 in the process of being demolished for redevelopment.
Siwar Ben Anes and her husband Lotfi Fetoui are among the tenants in a building on Maywood Street, one of the three highlighted by ACORN, who are looking for new accommodations because the new developer-owner has informed them of plans to redevelop the site.
Ben Anes is concerned because the move isn’t their decision and they don’t know if they will find another place close to a neighbourhood they are comfortable in with their 19-month-old daughter.
“I like this area because (I can find) everything around me,” she said. The neighbourhood includes a library, two parks within two blocks of the home and a neighbourhood house that offers family services.
The family hasn’t been handed an eviction notice, but her husband said the owner has informed them that the plan is to start redeveloping by April 2019, and has offered tenants assistance to move.
“It’s stressful,” said Fetoui. “We don’t know exactly what will be the next place (and) if it’s here or far away.”
He said the price of a replacement is a concern because rents for listings that the relocation firm forwards for their attention are in the range of $1,500 a month for a one-bedroom suite, considerably more than the $900 they pay now.
Fetoui said a two-bedroom suite would be beyond their reach.
“Prices (are) really crazy,” said Fetoui, an accountant who works in downtown Vancouver. “Sometimes we can’t afford the (listing ’s) rent because it’s $1,700 or $1,800 (for one bedroom). Too much.”
In the meantime, Fetoui said up to half of his neighbours have already moved out, which makes it a “less comfortable” place to live.
Martin said developers shouldn’t be allowed to tell tenants they should be out of a property by a certain date until after they’ve received approval for redevelopment because many will accept such notices as a legal requirement.