60+ low income tenants at this building are may be demovicted so the landlord can build a larger building with rents almost double the current rates!

There are almost no affordable vacancies in Marpole (or anywhere in Vancouver) for these tenants to move into if they are evicted from their homes. Help us protect vulnerable, low income tenants in Marpole. Help us keep Marpole affordable!

• Sign up to speak at the Public Hearing on Tuesday, September 10th @ 6pm
  
  and/or
  
  
• Spare 5 mins - write a letter (see below)
  

Here are the steps to sending this letter:

1. In the “to” field of the email, copy and paste these addresses:
    
   [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], 
   [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], 
   [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
   [email protected], [email protected], 
   
   
2. In the “cc” field, copy and paste these addresses:
   
   [email protected], [email protected]
   
   
3. Copy and paste the entire letter below, as is, into the email after your intro.
   
   Optional step: Add a personal introduction at the beginning, and perhaps your personal connection to this issue. (For example: you are a neighbour, you live in Marpole, you are also a renter, you have experience being demovicted/renovicted, you are a low income person trying to make ends meet in Vancouver, etc.) Add any other comments you would like at the end.
   
   
4. Sign off with your name and your postal code

Dear Mayor and Council,
Director of Affordable Housing, Abigail Bond,
Senior Planner, Affordable Housing Programs, Allison Dunnet, 

I am writing to express extreme concern about vulnerable tenants at 8636 Oak St. and 8656 Oak St. being forced out of their homes. 

Under the Tenant Relocation and Protection Policy (TRPP), tenants are entitled to compensation and relocation in their current neighbourhood of Marpole, in comparable rental units, with similar square footage and, for low income tenants, within 10% of their current rents, which are presently $768/mo for 1 bedroom.

Unfortunately, almost no such comparable rentals exist in Marpole, or indeed anywhere in Vancouver. This means that rather than providing additional rental stock for Vancouver renters, the development of this new building will merely replace affordable rental units with unaffordable ones, forcing vulnerable tenants out of their homes, and leaving them nowhere to go.

While the landlord has offered returning tenants a discounted rent in the new building, the new rents are out of reach of current tenants, even with a discount. According to the developer, a one-bedroom in the new building will cost $1,875 without the discount, and $1,313 with it. This would mean a 71% increase in rent from the current rate, even with the 30% discount. (See table below)

There are more than 60 tenants living in these two buildings, the vast majority of whom are low-income tenants, working jobs in retail, in home care and other low-paid sectors. They work in the neighbourhood, and many of them have children who attend local schools.  At present, many of them are already working multiple jobs, taking on overtime and double shifts, and sharing one-bedroom units with roommates to make ends meet in this unaffordable city. If they are forced out of these relatively affordable rental units, there is literally nowhere that they can afford to go in Vancouver or its suburbs. They could easily become homeless as a result.

I ask that the City refuse to issue an occupancy permit for this landlord, unless they find a way to meaningfully relocate the tenants at rents within 10% of their current rent, and on top of other required compensations under the TRPP.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

[Your Postal Code]