Vancouver – The relentless assault on low-income housing in Vancouver continues in August as the American Hotel, a 37-unit low-income residential hotel on Main Street in Vancouver issued illegal eviction notices to all of its tenants demanding that they leave by September 30, 2006.
“This is beginning to look more and more like Expo 86,” said David Eby, lawyer for Pivot Legal Society. “The eviction notices are illegal, but the process for appeals under the Residential Tenancy Act is so difficult that most tenants will probably get kicked out nevertheless.”
The reason given by the American Hotel on the eviction notices for evicting all the tenants is that renovations they are planning cannot occur with tenants in the building. However, no City permits have been obtained, a requirement before evicting a tenant to make renovations under the Residential Tenancy Act. In addition, the forms used were invalid. When the representative of the American Hotel was advised of this fact, he told lawyer David Eby: “I don’t care. I’m going to change the locks at the end of September anyway. If you want to help, get some money together to pay rent for these tenants to go somewhere else.”
Under the Residential Tenancy Act, a tenant who wishes to appeal an illegal eviction notice must go to Burnaby to obtain an arbitration decision, a process which can take up to 6 weeks. If the landlord ignores the ruling and changes the locks anyway, the tenant must apply to Supreme Court for an enforcement order. This entire process can take up to two months, is complicated, involving multiple court appearances and multiple trips to the residential tenancy office – an almost insurmountable challenge for many low-income tenants.
“The temptation for owners of SRO hotels to find ways to evict their tenants and make a quick dollar is only going to increase as the Olympics approaches,” said Eby. “If the City of Vancouver and the Province of BC do not begin to make good on their commitment to protect low-income housing, the world will arrive on our doorstep in 2010 to witness a major homelessness crisis.”
The impending closure of the American Hotel (37 units) by the owners of that building follows the slow-motion closure of the Lucky Lodge (61 tenants as of July, 2006) by the City and the Province where 9 units are now vacant due to welfare’s new policy to refuse to issue rents to prospective tenants of that building. These closures in progress follow the dramatic closures of the Burns Block hotel (18 units) and the Pender Hotel (36 units) in March, 2006, and the closure of the Marble Arch hotel (148 units) and St. Helen’s hotel (100 units) to low income tenants through renovations and rent increases.
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Further Comment: David Eby (778) 865-7997 – Pivot Legal Society
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The 2010 Inner-City Inclusivity Commitment to protect low-income housing and ensure that people are not made homeless was part of the Vancouver Bid Book, the formal application to host the Olympic Games.
To read the Inclusivity Commitment Statement, visit: http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/commsvcs/housing/sra/pdf/statement.pdf .
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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