Vancouver Tenants Union launches to give tenants a unified voice
Posted April 29, 2017 9:47 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Renters make up half of the population, yet many of them feel disenfranchised. That is why a group of renters are getting together to start the Vancouver Tenants Union.
A launch event was held at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church on Main Street in Vancouver, Saturday.
There’s strength and numbers, as the old saying goes, and organizer Derrick O’Keefe hopes by standing together, members of the tenants union can protect themselves from things like rent increases and so-called renovictions.
“So, it’s really a reaction to this affordability crisis,” he explains. We are a laughingstock globally, kind of a cautionary note to cities around the world about what happens when speculation takes over the housing market.”
O’Keefe hopes that, by standing together, renters in the city can speak with a unified voice. “We know that by having greater number of organizers, we’re going to have more collective power,” he says.
“What makes this initiative is it’s really focused on building a membership in the hundreds and thousands.”
O’Keefe points out tenants unions have been started in other cities on the west coast, including San Francisco.
Membership costs a minimum one dollar donation.
