I too attended that meeting on June 13 at Century House to address the rights and needs of tenants facing renovictions. It soon became obvious that the real question everyone had was if anything can be done in time to help those that were there. But my question is, how did we get here in the first place? How is it that 50 people come together for an evening to talk to their MLA because they are about to lose their home of the last 10 or 20 years and are frightened, bewildered and, most of all, angry.
So how prevalent is the problem of renovictions in New Westminster? We hear of the problems with single-room occupancy hotels in Vancouver and think it will never happen here, but this meeting of tenants looking for answers proves otherwise.
How on earth has our city, one that I moved to only five years ago because it felt like a real community, become this? How did it so quickly become a city facing an angry group of tenants who are fearing being unable to find affordable options when they face renovictions? Do we have options? That became the question that was asked, and, by the end of the night, a solution may have emerged.
For the group of tenants who were facing immediate eviction, the decision was made to meet the next day to file for a stay of the renovictions. They were willing to fight now that they had the information and the tools, but it would be close with the deadline looming just 24 hours from this night’s meeting. It was a start. But beyond this, I found myself wondering, as a tenant myself in a century-old building, just what I could take away from this.
I already know there is a serious housing crisis in our city and across the Lower Mainland and that there are fewer and fewer affordable places to rent. And I know that renters’ rights are far weaker in B.C. than in many other provinces. I learned that night that many tenants don’t know what they can do about it. But what I also learned was that you can fight it, if you know how to get access to the right tools.
There are solutions in the making, and MLA Judy Darcy talked about them at the meeting. We heard how the NDP is committed to making changes to the Residential Tenancy Act, including longer notice periods so tenants aren’t facing last-minute decisions like the ones we saw that night. They are also planning to provide a “right of first refusal” to renters so that tenants have a chance to return to their old homes at the end of renovations. That would help. Finally – rent hikes would be limited to the increases we now have in the Residential Tenancy Act.
We do need these guarantees, along with building a lot more affordable housing. These changes could go a long way towards taking care of future growth. Let’s hope those tenants find a solution for now and today.
Deni Loubert is a New Westminster resident.
