VTU members and guests attended the October general meeting on Displacement and Dispossession, hosted by the Mount Pleasant and Fairview chapters, convened on October 19 at 12pm. The GM brought together tenants from all over the city to discuss our shared stake in resisting the Broadway Plan. The Broadway Plan is the City’s policy to upzone the Broadway corridor along the Skytrain route - demolishing some of Vancouver’s densest stock of existing affordable rental housing to be replaced by largely unaffordable high-rises.
Here is a condensed version of the meeting minutes.
- History of Broadway Plan Resistance
Activists have been calling attention to the flaws of the Broadway Plan since it was announced. The VTU’s Renter’s Plan in 2022 surveyed tenants to reveal how much landlords stand to profit from renovicting long-term tenants.
As a result, the VTU succeeded in getting enhanced protections for tenants in the Broadway Plan area passed! However, even the enhanced tenant protections are full of holes, and insufficient to stop mass displacement and gentrification.
- Learning from resisting transit-oriented displacement in Metrotown
Tenants heard from organizers involved in anti-displacement campaigns in Metrotown. Tenants and organizers described their tactics and the long-term ramifications of their wins, and discussed lessons VTU organizers can bring with them in their own campaigns.
- What’s next?
The Broadway Plan is in motion: The first renoviction notices have been issued to households on the 500 Block of East 10th in Mount Pleasant, with more to come. It’s time to ramp up our resistance.
\We discussed tactics including critical know-your-rights education, doorknocking, and using public outcry to make projects too reputationally risky and expensive for developers to back.
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Live minutes are recorded at each GM and condensed for the website. For more detailed minutes any member may contact us: [email protected]