“This is not a property management company, these are thugs!” exclaimed Carol Anne, a tenant living on Yew Street. Carol Anne was one of several tenants speaking at a rally on November 9 in downtown Vancouver. The Vancouver Tenants Union (VTU) called the rally, drawing over 150 people to protest the renovictions that have contributed significantly to the housing crisis in Vancouver. A loophole in British Columbia’s rent control laws allows landlords to evict tenants under the pretense of making necessary renovations before making often only cosmetic changes and then raising the rent by hundreds of dollars. The rally drew together the many strands of the struggle against displacement, building on the momentum of the tenant movement in Vancouver that was vital to electing long-time activist and COPE candidate, Jean Swanson, to City Council.
The location for the rally was well chosen; inside 938 Howe Street, on the third floor, is the office of property management company VS Rentals. VS Rentals has a unique management style, with a personal touch. Currently VS Rentals manages 15 properties across the lower mainland; of these, 14 are either fully renovicted or in the process. As David Hendry, an organizer with the VTU, said at the rally, this makes VS Rentals responsible for the loss of 400 affordable units.
Tenants at the rally spoke of their personal experience with VS Rentals’ tactics as enforcers of renovictions. Carol Anne called what they have done to the building and their attempts to make life difficult for tenants a disgrace, “they destroyed the garden, left debris for weeks, and welded the garbage shut so now we have nowhere to put our garbage!” Lorna, a tenant on Burnaby Street, said VS lied repeatedly about work permits, issued eviction notices and, when the tenants won hearings at the Rental Tenancy Branch (RTB), VS simply re-issued the eviction notices, hoping for a different decision next time. Nick, who lives a block further down Burnaby Street, talked about how VS Rentals cut down trees on the property without permits, left piles of shattered glass behind after replacing windows and smashed his patio window and broke his computer while removing the patio from his unit without offering him any compensation. “These are not the actions of landlords,” said Nick, “These are the actions of greedy developers looking to cash in on a housing crisis!”
Robert lives in New Westminster in a building where VS has managed to push out many of the tenants with buyouts and eviction notices. Most of the remaining tenants are seniors living on fixed incomes. “VS Rentals, your greed has already sent two of my neighbours to hospital,” he said speaking about the stress of living for months under threat of renoviction, knowing you can’t afford to live anywhere else. Valerie, Carol Anne’s neighbour on Yew Street, said “businesses like VS Rentals are predatory … pushing people into homelessness so they can profit.” Robert finished by saying, “We are here to put a major dent in those profits!”
Carol and Vanessa, neighbours living in a building on Davie Street known as the Berkeley Tower, were next to speak. Their building, under threat of renoviction from Reliance Properties, has become something of a flash-point for the tenants’ movement over the past months, including a rally in late September outside their building and a letter-writing campaign with tenants across the city writing against the Reliance’s development application that amassed over 500 letters. “Jon Stovell (president of Reliance Properties) enjoys touting himself as a champion of tenants’ rights,” said Vanessa, and indeed Reliance’s website boasts of building “long-term tenant relationships,” many going back decades. This has not been the experience of the tenants at Berkeley Tower. Reliance took possession of the property in 2016 and now, just two years later, is threatening renoviction for every tenant left in the building, wanting to redevelop the 58 affordable units into 52 new luxury rentals.
Jon Stovell is the chair of the Urban Development Institute, a lobbying group representing over 900 developers across British Columbia, that fanatically intones the supply-side gospel. Jon boasted in statements after the rally in September that the buyout package they were offering to tenants was double what the law required. While the tenants have offered to move temporarily to accommodate the renovations, making evictions unnecessary (and the tenants believe the Supreme Court is on their side), the only tenants’ rights Jon Stovell is nterested in championing are their rights to return at the exactingly high market rate. “The city is holding the bully’s coat while they evict us so they can increase the units from affordable [to luxury], they just need to get rid of us,” said Carol.
Vivian, who lives in a building on Bowman Street, talked about her experience fighting renoviction. The process started in her building in 2015 when they were hit with a 67% rent increase after new owners took possession the year before. They lost many services in the building including lighting and laundry when they fought the rent increase. A mixture of eviction notices and buyout offers convinced several dispirited tenants to leave and their units, after some cosmetic upgrades, are now back on the market at rents up to three times higher than before. Vivian took her eviction notice to the RTB but the arbitrator ruled against her and gave her 48 hours to leave her home. Vivian filed for a judicial review and had her eviction overturned by the BC Supreme Court. Vivian came to the rally directly from the courthouse where she is fighting her landlords’ appeal of the decision. “The supply of existing affordable units is eroded through evictions in the spirit of bad faith,” Vivian said, speaking of what her precedent setting victory in court could mean for tenants across British Columbia, “I am seeking justice for all tenants who have been treated unfairly … this is a David and Goliath situation.”
The final speaker of the afternoon was Jean Swanson, the newly-elected COPE city councillor, for whom Socialist Alternative spent countless hours canvassing. Jean spoke about the motion that she will be introducing at the first meeting of the newly-elected Council. The motion includes extending the Tenant Relocation Protection Program and appealing to the province to institute Vacancy Control, tying rent to the unit and not the tenant. “Buildings are being sold for outrageous prices because the owners know that after they get rid of the tenants they can raise the rents as much as they want. If the province brought in vacancy control they couldn’t do this.” Jean said. She urged everyone at the rally to come to City Hall on November 14 to support the motion, “Those councillors need to hear what I just heard, they really need to hear that we have predatory landlords out there who are destroying homes, stressing people out, and destroying communities so they can build luxury commodities.” “I can’t do it alone,” Jean said, “I hope you can use me to do whatever we need to do to stop these renovictions.”
- Support Jean Swanson’s motion to Ban Renovictions: https://www.vancouvertenantsunion.ca/ban-renovictions
- Support the Berkeley Tower Tenants: https://berkeleytower.wixsite.com/tenants
