Vancouver city council passes part of new councillor’s motion to improve tenants’ rights
Srushti Gangdev / December 5, 2018
Vancouver city council voted Tuesday night to pass two aspects of a four-pronged motion put forth by newly elected councillor Jean Swanson.
The motion aims to improve the rights of tenants in Vancouver, and shift the balance of power between landlords and tenants — which tenants advocacy groups say is far too tilted in favour of landlords.
Swanson said she had expected the city to “mush down” at least portions of the plan — and she’s not entirely sure if the remaining aspects of the motion will pass after review.
“I don’t know the staff well enough to know what they’re going to report. But tenants definitely need more protection and we definitely need vacancy control, and that’s what I’m going to be pushing for and that’s what the Vancouver Tenants Union is going to be pushing for.” — Jean Swanson, Vancouver city councillor
City council agreed to pass two aspects of Swanson’s motion:
Council voted to leave the other two prongs for further review by staff:
Tenants who organized & spoke to City Council: you made this partial win possible. You did it with your eloquence and genuineness, and with your commitment and courage, and by sticking your neck out and risking being blacklisted and evicted — that takes a lot of courage. #vanpoli pic.twitter.com/E7eMsDLDqT
— Jean Swanson (@swanson4council) December 5, 2018
Swanson said a major problem affecting renters in older Vancouver buildings involves landlords evicting tenants to renovate the building, and then sending rental rates skyrocketing once renovations are complete. She said people can’t afford that kind of increase, leading to people paying extra hundreds of dollars per month, or leaving the city altogether.
“The impact for the city is that we lose affordable housing stock so that the people who actually do the work here — the people who work at Starbucks, that work at other retail stores, that work in hospitals, that serve our beer, serve our food — they won’t be able to afford to live here.” — Jean Swanson, Vancouver city councillor
Swanson also said that people commuting in to Vancouver for work because they can’t afford to live in the city has a negative impact on the environment — as people commute into the city, they bring pollution from their cars.
She’s pleased that parts of the plan were passed — and her next focus will be to make sure that the city implements those strategies straight away.
Nobody from the Vancouver Tenant’s Union or LandlordBC was immediately available for comment.
— With files from Darrian Matassa-Fung.