From Pivot Legal Society:
“Olympic” evictions declared illegal
Vancouver – Pivot Legal Society and a coalition of advocacy groups won two low-income housing eviction- and rent-increase cases for residents of one of the Downtown Eastside’s low-income hotels today.
Two residents of the Golden Crown Hotel received notice today from the Residential Tenancy Branch that their illegal eviction notices and rent increases linked to the Olympics were set aside.
“We are pleased to be part of a process that set aside these flawed eviction notices and rent increases,” says Shabnum Durrani of Pivot Legal Society who was counsel for the tenants. “However, this is a short term solution. The only real solution is for government to reinvest in social housing.”
The eviction notices given were for March 31, 2007, to the 28 units in the Golden Crown Hotel located across the street from the Woodward’s building. The eviction notices and rent increases are linked to the 2010 Olympics as owners of the hotel have indicated that they would like to use the hotel to provide housing to Olympic workers rather than the current residents.
In setting aside the illegal eviction notice, the dispute resolution officer in the case wrote, “the ‘Notice’ given by the landlord is not an ‘effective’ Notice because it is not in the approved form and it is fatal in its deficiency because it does not inform the tenants of their [rights]…I find the ‘Notice’ given by the landlord is void from the beginning.”
The Golden Crown hotel was one of the four hotels scheduled to close to low income individuals in the last four weeks. As a result of the work done by Pivot and several other advocacy groups including the Downtown Eastside Residents’ Association and the Save Low Income Housing Coalition, three of the four hotels have remained open and operating for low income individuals.
Earlier today 46 single room occupancy (SRO) hotel rooms were saved when the new owners handed management of the Carl Rooms to a local non-profit organization. Community advocates, including David Eby from Pivot Legal Society, convinced a partnership of developers, 0773477 B.C. Limited, to turn over management of their recently-purchased SRO to Atira Property Management, a non-profit property management organization. Atira is a Vancouver-based company that operates three other low-income buildings in the Downtown Eastside. The owners’ agreement with Atira includes plans to renovate and improve the building, while it remains at rent levels accessible to those on basic social assistance.
Link to the Court decision, (6-page pdf)
For more information contact:
Shabnum Durrani – Pivot Legal Society – 778 228 5952 or (604) 255-9700 ext. 104
Reginald Walton – Resident of the Golden Crown Hotel – 778-235-4557———————-
About Pivot Legal Society
Pivot’s mandate is to take a strategic approach to social change, using the law to address the root causes that undermine the quality of life of those most on the margins. We believe that everyone, regardless of income, benefits from a healthy and inclusive community where values such opportunity, respect and equality are strongly rooted in the law.
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raincoaster 
When this one landed in my inbox today, I did a little dance around the office.
Yippee! One for the powers of justice!
And seriously unexpected, too.
I certainly understand the owners’ wish to make money; what can’t be permitted is their desire to make it through essentially a conspiracy of systematic cruelty in which City Hall is complicit. I’ve had enough of the “so many violations over ten years we decided to close it down” excuse, particularly when those violations didn’t result in any citations or demands for action over that whole length of time. Gee, it’s almost as if the City was saving them up or something, eh? If the real problem you’re looking to solve is violations, the solution is to enforce the law. That didn’t happen. If the real problem you’re looking to solve is that low-rent areas don’t bring in as much money as condo conversions, etc, then forcing closures and evictions would be the way to go.
Thankfully, it’s now officially illegal. Someone now needs to smack Sam Sullivan on the ass for good measure and say “Gotcha!”
This is/was good news coupled with the recent initiatives by the province to stem the trend of SRO conversions.
However, the article by the Pivot Society reeks of partisan politics. They are clearly motivated by their anti-Olympic mantra and attempt to tie 2010 to all things wrong with DTES as often as possible. The trend of SRO conversions is at best very loosely tied to 2010. Why? a) venue contruction in Vancouver is almost done; b) there are no Olympic venues being built in the DTES; and c) the vast majority of Olympic workers already live here.
I would seriously like to see the facts to back-up their claim that there’s this plethora of Olympic workers invading the DTES in need of temporary housing. It just isn’t true.
Thanks for your comments.
You’re right that the SRO conversions are very loosely tied to 2010 per se. I think, however, it’s clear that what’s going on is the developers and property owners are using 2010 as an excuse to convert their units into condos on which they can make a great deal more money. Vancouver city council is almost pathalogically facilitative towards anything to do with the Olympics, so it’s smart on their part to use that as cover.
Pivot’s not unaware of this; but they’re equally aware of the headline-grabbing power of the Olympics. I don’t think they ARE claiming that this invasion of workers is going to take place; they believe, as I do, that an invasion of property flippers and yuppies will take place.
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MY BEAR SHARE HAS APROBLEM
Imagine our sadness at the news!