Broadway plan will push rents up, force people to move: tenants union

Opposition to Vancouver's Broadway plan is ramping up with a renters advocacy group saying the scheme will push rents up and displace renters living along the Broadway corridor.

The Vancouver Tenants Union released the results of a survey that found a significant “rent gap” between market rents and current rents.

For a one bedroom, the median market monthly rent is $2,200, while the median rent being paid is $1,379 — a difference of $821 a month, said the report. The gap is more dramatic for a two-bedroom unit, where the gap between the median market rate of $3,200 a month is $1,315 higher than the $1,885 that surveyed tenants are paying.

That means that landlords could expect a 60 to 70 per cent rise in rental income if they redevelop their properties and replace their tenants.

“The rent gap is a measurement of the landlord's incentive to evict,” said Vancouver Tenants Union organizer Mazdak Gharibnavaz on Monday after a news conference held outside city hall. “The Broadway plan is a rubber-stamped process to send a green light for massive redevelopment that is for profit.”

The survey was conducted with 293 households living in 41 rental buildings last fall.

The report found that about half of respondents said they will not be able to remain in the neighbourhood if they were evicted from their current place, while 20 per cent said their current rent is already unaffordable for them.

“They're very concerned,” said Gharibnavaz. “If their current tenancy ends, they said they see themselves leaving the neighbourhoods, and what that means is leaving the city of Vancouver.”

The proposed Broadway plan would see the addition of up to 30,000 homes, with taller residential buildings to support a population growth from 78,000 to 128,000 residents over the next three decades along the Broadway corridor. The area plan goes before council on May 18.

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart has made a pledge to protect renters, including those paying below-market rents. He said the Broadway plan will not force renters out of their neighbourhood.

Gharibnavaz was skeptical of Stewart's promises.

“When we talk about new protections coming in, we do not believe municipal governments will protect tenants in the face of the profit motive, and that's a systemic problem.”