'You don't listen to renters': Vancouver Tenants Union disrupts housing announcement
Rental housing advocates interrupted an announcement by B.C.'s housing minister in Vancouver Wednesday morning to object to the provincial government's response to the affordability crisis.
"I'm sorry to be doing this," said Mazdak Gharibnavaz, a volunteer with the Vancouver Tenants Union, as he stepped in front of Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon's podium.
"You and your staff – no offence to you – you do not know what renters need. We do."
Gharibnavaz went on to tell the minister and the assembled reporters that thousands of families are at risk of "demoviction" along the path of the future Broadway subway line.
He said the VTU had spoken to 300 residents of the neighbourhood, who estimate that their rents would rise by $800 per month for one-bedroom units and $1,100 per month for two-bedroom units if they have to move into new buildings being constructed in the area.
"We've been talking to renters all along this neighbourhood," he said. "You don't listen to renters in this city, and that's why we need to be speaking out today."
Kahlon was speaking at the site of a future 28-storey rental tower, which is under construction at 2538 Birch St. in Vancouver.
The project is slated to include 258 rental units, with 58 of them designated as "below market" units and 200 designed to be affordable to households with middle incomes, according to the province.
Gharibnavaz described the project – and the redevelopment of the Broadway Corridor more broadly – as an effort to replace aging, affordable rental buildings with new towers that are significantly more expensive, even when they're supposed to be affordable.
"These are luxury homes that you want to replace their buildings with," he said. "Your plan is for your developer friends to drive us out of our neighbourhoods and out of our cities. Tenants understand that this provincial government will not protect us or stand up for our human right to housing."
The VTU is calling for policies that will protect renters from getting displaced and keep land values low to prevent skyrocketing rents.
After the disruption finished, Kahlon carried on with his news conference, addressing the VTU protesters' points while taking questions from reporters.
"They highlighted that they heard from 300 people," the housing minister said.
"I hear from thousands of people who are looking for housing. They can't find it. This project, here, that they decided they were going to protest, is a project that was a Denny's before and now is 258 rental units available, 58 units for families making less than $80,000, 200 units for families making $170,000 or less."
Kahlon added that B.C. needs to continue to build affordable housing for people at all income levels, and defended the provincial government's efforts to do that.
Vancouver’s deputy mayor Mike Klassen said the rental homes will help families and seniors thrive.
“This project is abut more than just putting roofs over people’s heads, it is about creating belonging and community in this vibrant city,” Klassen said.
But Gharibnavaz is worried the different tiers of renters will cause division.
“What it means is the social mix of the people who end up in these buildings will drive out the most vulnerable people,” he said. “Their neighbours are not going to understand the struggles that they’re having because there’s such a difference in the rents that they’re paying. What we need is publicly built rental stocks that keep rents low. That’s what we need, not partnerships with for-profits, profit incentives.”
The development is being done in collaboration with Jameson Development Corp., the City of Vancouver and the province through its HousingHub program.
The program’s mandate is to increase the supply of affordable homes for middle-income earners by offering low-interest financing to developers.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.