Housing activists at Burnaby mayor’s office for peaceful sit in
Posted March 9, 2017 2:08 pm.
Last Updated March 9, 2017 5:51 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – A group of housing activists that took over the Burnaby mayor’s office for a peaceful sit in say they have won a half victory in their fight for renters rights.
Members of the Alliance Against Displacement’s Stop Demovictions Burnaby Campaign (AADSDBC)say the city is not enforcing their tenant-assistant policy, leaving some soon-to-be evicted renters in the lurch, and Councillor Colleen Jordan says if residents file complaints the city will investigate them.
“Given that they are even unwilling to enforce their own policies, we were able to make a bit a gain,” campaign member Ivan Drury says. “With these testimonials we’ll be able to win people the compensation that they deserve. I’m sure of it.”
Around 10 members of the AADSDBC showed up at Mayor Derek Corrigan‘s office Thursday morning to represent renters of two apartment buildings at 6380 and 6420 Silver Ave. Both buildings are slated for demolition and the group says their attempts to contact council with concerns have gone unanswered.
The group says the city is not equally enforcing their assistant policy to help those who face eviction. The BC Residential Tenancy Act requires landlords to give tenants two months’ notice and one month’s rent if they are evicted because of demolition. Burnaby’s policy asks landlords to increase the compensation to three months’ rent if tenants lived in the building before the redevelopment application began.
Some tenants moved into the buildings after the application began in June 2015, but the group says they were not properly informed and are therefore entitled to three months’ compensation like other renters.
“They moved into a building that they were told in the next year, in two years it might be being torn down, it might be a decision maker. Everyone was told something different,” campaign member Zoe Luba says. “They didn’t know about this three month policy that the City of Burnaby has.”
Jordan reiterated that the city’s policy only applies to those who moved in before the demolition announcement and that the policy is not a legally enforceable bylaw. Still, she says if tenants complain, the city will review their cases to determine if the developers misled them when they signed their rental agreement.
