Vancouver tenants fighting renovations they can’t afford

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – On the heels of Vancouver’s announcement to build 400 new rental homes in the city, a group of people facing eviction in a Mount Pleasant apartment building say the city and provincial government are not doing enough to protect affordable housing that’s already in place.

The owner of a building built in 1961 at 44 East 11th Avenue says it is in need of major upgrades and that means people are going to have to go.

Mel Brennan has lived in her apparent for over a decade and in Vancouver nearly her entire life. She says the renovations are going to make rent unaffordable and there are slim options elsewhere.

“Really, there is nothing that is affordable. I’m at a certain age where I’ve developed a community, I have my family [and] my friends are here. I have an elderly mother who lives in Richmond. So, at what point do I say? ‘Enough is enough and I have to go.’ Because I can’t take everybody with me.”

The landlord tells NEWS 1130 tenants were offered suites at another building 150 feet away with moving expenses and two months’ rent but no one took that option.

Another tenant, Mike Hanafin, provided a written statement to NEWS 1130 in response to the landlord’s offer:

“The landlord –as part of the tenant relocation plan which must be filed with the City of Vancouver–posted two separate notices approximately two months apart, of vacancies of single units in another building he owns down the street. At higher rents than what we pay now. and one of the units was not similar to what we live in. So, to recap, he offered a total of two units, after handing eviction notices to 9 tenants. Hardly a grand offer. Two tenants in our building did in fact look at the units, and were not satisfied it was a fair deal, so they declined and decided to keep fighting the eviction,” Hanafin said.

Brennan says a new suite would be nice, but it would be one she can’t afford or is not a fair deal.

“I even entertained moving to another part of Canada or to the Interior. All around it is just frustrating.”

She feels the city’s announcement of the new rental homes doesn’t give her any hope as she keeps hearing about delays in developments that are already underway.

The City of Vancouver plans on building the new homes at rental spaces across four city-owned sites on West Pender Street, Main Street, Fraser Street and Southwest Marine Drive.