Vancouver to appeal Supreme Court ruling on SRO vacancy control

Vancouver’s mayor has confirmed the city will appeal a B.C. Supreme Court decision to scrap vacancy controls in the city.

In a release, Mayor Kennedy Stewart said Thursday the City of Vancouver’s appeal is designed to “maintain landmark vacancy control bylaws” in single-room occupancy (SRO) buildings and is “about standing up for those most at risk of homelessness.”

We need to use every tool we have to protect this fragile housing stock, and I am hopeful the Court of Appeals will side with the City and the important work we are doing to protect our neighbours from living on the street.

Read the rest of my statement for more. #vanpoli pic.twitter.com/VOZ3UVvCVY

— Kennedy Stewart (@kennedystewart) September 1, 2022

“We need to use every tool we have to protect this fragile housing stock, and I am hopeful the Court of Appeals will side with the City and the important work we are doing to protect our neighbours from living on the street,” Stewart said.

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The supreme court’s decision handed down on Aug. 3 means the city’s Single Room Accommodation (SRA) rooms in the Downtown Eastside and downtown core will now be vulnerable to speculative investment and rapidly rising rents in SRO buildings.

“The housing affordability crisis and low vacancy rate in the city creates an incentive for owners and operators to maximize revenue potential in SRA buildings by displacing existing, low-income tenants, and significantly escalating rents at turnover. This trend has been well-documented and has created housing instability and homelessness amongst the city’s lowest-income residents,” the city explains on its website.

The city says the vacancy control bylaw is also intended to prevent tenant displacement by limiting rent increases in SRA-designated buildings between tenancies.

Speaking to CityNews, Vancouver City Councillor Jean Swanson said if the appeal isn’t successful, she fears that investor landlords will continue to buy up hotels with the business model of evicting low-income and vulnerable tenants.

“[The bylaw] is really important to stem the flow of people into homelessness, that we stop them being pushed out of SROs with really high prices,” Swanson said. “And vacancy controlling the SROs is the way to do that.

“It’s really important that we win this case,” she said.

Another Metro Vancouver municipality, The City of New Westminster has a similar vacancy control bylaw, which was previously upheld by the BC Court of Appeal.