Theoma Slater sits in her Vancouver apartment with friend and helper Jerry Gosselin. Ms. Slater has lived in her Kitsilano unit for 43 years and her building is slated for redevelopment as part of the Broadway Plan. She is anxious about losing her home and community, and ultimately living in a much smaller apartment.Kerry Gold/The Globe and Mail
Vancouver’s tenant relocation and protection policy is being put to the test, now that hundreds of renters have received notification that their building will be redeveloped as part of the Broadway Plan, an ambitious project aimed at creating new housing for 50,000 people.
Among renters, there is confusion and anxiety for some and cautious optimism for others.
The Broadway Plan is a transformational undertaking to add new housing over a 500-block east-west corridor that contains one-quarter of the city’s existing rental stock. Most of the density is through the addition of 20-storey towers on sites where affordable low-rise apartment buildings and duplex-zoned housing currently exists. To curb displacement, the city introduced a policy to rehouse and compensate displaced tenants.
“To be honest, it’s thrown me into a bit of a depression, this whole thing,” says Kitsilano renter Grant Roberts. “We are all scared. … We feel like there is a target on our backs.”
The active 70-year-old has lived in his building for 22 years. He has a sunny 600-square foot, one-bedroom suite that he pays $1,224 a month for. He worries he’ll be given one of the many 368-square foot studios in the proposed new 20-storey tower, which would be more in line with his current rent.
Theoma Slater has lived at her Kitsilano apartment at 2226 W. 8th Ave. for 43 years, where neighbours help her get to appointments because she has trouble walking. She pays $1,283 for her one-bedroom apartment, which is packed with a lifetime of belongings. Ms. Slater is anxious about losing her home and community, and ultimately living in a much smaller unit.
“I’m worried about where they are going to put me,” said a teary-eyed Ms. Slater.
The en masse relocation of tenants is a complex, delicate business. At the forefront of the transition is Somerville Community Relations, who work on behalf of the landowner clients and whose job is to help tenants understand the policy, their rights and to find suitable apartments.
“The work is very sensitive. It’s very private. We’re not super public about it for that reason,” says Somerville founder James Tod, who could not speak about specific buildings. “It’s just very personal and there’s no sort of magic to the work, except that it takes the time it takes to meet with everyone [so that they] understand the policy.”
For five years, they’ve been working on Burnaby’s tenant assistance policy, which is a useful template for the Broadway Plan, says Somerville co-owner Matthew Thiesen.
“Every person’s situation is different,” he says. “A policy … doesn’t flesh out the getting-to-know-people part of it, right? So maybe we can help solve that.
“Redevelopment or whatnot can be a destabilizing factor for people, to very varying degrees, especially vulnerable folks.”
Mr. Tod is also the owner of JTA Development Consultants, which is a developer for hire that works for landowner clients, private and non-profit. JTA Development has applied for 11 rezoning applications on behalf of landowner clients within the Broadway Plan area. Somerville is a standalone service that works on JTA projects and many others in the Broadway Plan and throughout B.C. Some developers do their own tenant relocation.
There are more than 50 rezoning applications in process under the Broadway Plan, so hundreds more will soon see city signs go up in front of their buildings. Tenant relocation co-ordinators, such as Somerville, are required to hold tenant information meetings, usually via zoom, with city staff present.
Tenants can take a lump-sum payment based on the length of tenancy or receive a top-up on the rent they will pay in their temporary apartment, so they don’t incur a rent increase. They also have a choice as to whether they want the landowner-applicant to find them a temporary apartment, or if they would do it themselves. If it’s the applicant, then the top-up is the difference between their new rent and their old rent, and the apartment could be anywhere in Vancouver. If they find their own place, the top up is the difference between their old rent and the city-wide average rent for a newer unit.
If they return to the new building, their rent is 20 per cent off the city-wide average for that unit type, or equal to what they had previously been paying – whichever is less. People who choose the lump sum payment can also opt for right of first refusal on a new unit. A person who gets the lump sum doesn’t have to stay in the province while awaiting occupancy. But a person who chooses the top-up must stay within B.C. to qualify, according to Mr. Thiesen.
The size of the new unit is likely going to be smaller, because unit size has shrunk over the decades.
Renter Juraj Spisak is looking at his options now that he’s learned about his building’s redevelopment.
“They are being pretty supportive and transparent. The City of Vancouver is also getting involved with surveys and they seem to care as well,” he said by e-mail, because he’s out of the country. “My biggest concerns are the size of the new units. They are building 35 units for the current tenants. They call it below market units. Rent should be more or less the same but the units they will offer to the old tenants will be much smaller than the units we are currently living in.”
However, a renter who currently occupies a one-bedroom unit will be offered the same type of apartment in the new building, according to Matt Shillito, Interim Director of Planning, with the City of Vancouver. Furthermore, returning tenants will have first choice before units are offered to the general public. Discounted rents will continue for the duration of the tenancy.
Renters will also receive $750 for moving expenses for a studio or one bedroom, and $1,000 for a two or three-bedroom apartment.
Renters facing redevelopment will eventually receive a notice to end tenancy in about two to three years, the time it takes for the city to approve rezoning and issue permits.
In an ideal world, as the old buildings empty out, the new buildings come online in a staggered approach. How relocation plays out is still a question mark. Somerville has clients who own several apartment buildings that will help them find off-market vacancies, and non-profit housing might work better for some.
“We know that there are challenges, and we know that there’s ultralow vacancy in the Broadway Plan, but we think we’re going to have quite good access to options for folks,” says Mr. Tod. “We never know the future. We don’t have a crystal ball. But we’re going to explore every avenue and we have been preparing so that we’re not caught flat footed.”