Watch Dany from the 1177 Tenants Collective interview their neighbour Terry about his ongoing fight to stay in his home of 28 years.

TRANSCRIPT:

Terry: The landlord wants to move in a caretaker into my two-bedroom apartment, and this is my home, and I'm fighting it.

Dany: Hi, my name is Dany, and this is Terry. Also known as the last boss, also known as the mayor of East 14th Avenue. And we're both residents of 1177 East 14th Avenue. Terry, can you tell us about… A little bit about yourself, how long you've lived here, maybe your age here, if you’re not too shy. and… about the eviction notice you got.

T: Terry McIntosh, I grew up in Ontario, and now I lived here… I moved here back in 98, 96, I guess, in 1998, I moved into this place, so I've been here 28 years as of a few months ago. And it's my home. We've had an eviction attempt last year where he tried to get everyone out. But now, he wants to… the landlord wants to move in a caretaker into my two-bedroom. And this is my home, and I'm fighting it.

D: He wants a caregiver for this building. How many units in this building?

T: 7 units, I should say. Yes, and uh… I have a two-bedroom apartment on top of the deck. And it's a single person moving in, which makes no sense. 

D: Little unusual for a caretaker moving in on the top floor, huh? 

T: And also, a caretaker on the top floor makes no sense. And, uh, there were other apartments available, single… bedroom apartments, which could have taken over in the last year. Did not do it. It seems to be he's just, uh, attempting to get me out so that he can take this lovely apartment with a large deck, I might say, and it's a beautiful place Uh, which I've maintained, well, for the last 28 years he just wants to take over and, uh, you know, fix it up and rent it out for a lot more money. My rent isn't as high as others, because I've been here 28 years. It only goes up so much, but it's still high enough. You know? So, I mean, uh, it's just greed. That's simple.

D: So tell me about, uh. This eviction that's happening to you. Um, what went through your mind when you first got the notice?

T: So, It was a bit of a shock, but we went through this as a house last year, so it wasn't as much of a shock. I kind of looked at it. But it's, uh, didn't make me feel… you know… good. Let's say. But, uh, it's difficult. I mean, the most difficult part about all this is, it's really hard sometimes. You're working away, you're having… doing something, I'm in the garden, On the computers my work, and this will come up, and it just takes you away from it. It takes… it saps your energy, these flights like this. So, I've learned to understand that other tenants are going through similar things, often worse things.

D: So, what kind of pushback are you getting, like, pushback against this eviction?

T: Well, I've had a lot of help. Um, Vancouver Tenants Union, of course, has been supporting me. They have their own, uh, agendas out there with helping tenants across Vancouver. And there’s tenants unions across British Columbia, of course, which I support. They're supportive, the House is supportive, my family's supportive, my daughter. Uh, back east isn't lending me support, she's now paralegal which is interesting and she’s giving me all sorts of little tidbits. Yeah, so I feel completely surrounded by supportive people. And of course I get support from my cats. Very important.

D: Very Important. They support me, too.

D: Why do you think this, uh… your eviction is relevant to other tenants, Why do you think it’s important?

T: I didn't realize I've got great landlords my whole life. And, um, I've caused no problems, they've caused no problems until this, uh…Person comes along, and, um, I realize now. Because I've been involved in it now for over a year, how valuable things like the tenants union and other things are to help tenants, and uh… we really need it. So I'm totally supportive of their efforts, and hopefully once this is over, I could get sucked into the union a bit myself and help out.

D: To have that feeling of having this unstable housing. 

T: Yeah. 

D: And having your housing not be secure.

T: Oh, yeah, it's not… not pleasant. 

D: We talk about, like, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, right? Our home life that's disturbed. 

T: This is my home. Yeah. It's been my home for 28 years. Longest place I've ever lived in my life, so… Um, yeah, I need to, uh… fight for it.

D: What's your relationship with your neighbors like? 

T: Everybody's there pitching in, helping out. You know, with the garbage, or with this, or with that, so it's a good… good team. Um, but we got along, even back in the early days. If there was a problem, I'd just go down and knock on the door and mention something, and it's never been. Any problems. The last… 5-10 years, uh, mostly older people, older than…20 that is. And, uh, gotten along, and now we have a very strong community, so I feel part of this… house community at the East 14th community. And it's lovely, and as I mentioned. Makes me feel just at home.