When Vancouver’s Broadway plan was approved in 2022, city staff and politicians heralded what they called the strongest tenant protection policies in Canada. This week, city council will consider extending those same protections to renters across the city. Read More
Dan Fumano: As rezoning signs have sprouted up throughout the Broadway corridor recently, many tenants are understandably apprehensive about their future. City hall says they’re protected by strong policies.
Dan Fumano: As rezoning signs have sprouted up throughout the Broadway corridor recently, many tenants are understandably apprehensive about their future. City hall says they’re protected by strong policies.
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When Vancouver’s Broadway plan was approved in 2022, city staff and politicians heralded what they called the strongest tenant protection policies in Canada. This week, city council will consider extending those same protections to renters across the city.
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Vancouver’s renter’s advisory committee, a volunteer body that advises council on tenants’ issues, is pushing for the change this week. But industry sources warn that such a move would severely limit the viability of development, thereby reducing future housing supply and making the city’s already-dire rental market worse.
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The Broadway plan is expected to add significant new density to this corridor of roughly 500 city blocks along the subway line now under construction, adding taller towers and thousands of new homes. These parts of Mount Pleasant, Kitsilano and Fairview include a significant portion of the city’s rental housing stock, and some of the planned developments will entail the demolition of existing homes.
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Informed Opinion
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When a building in the Broadway plan is redeveloped, existing tenants get a “right-of-first-refusal” to return to a new unit in the new building at their old rent — which for longtime residents could be far below market rates — or 20 per cent below the citywide average rent for the same unit type, whichever is less. Developers will also be responsible for helping those tenants find another apartment to live in while the new building is under construction, and paying to top up the difference in their rent during that interim period, which would likely be at least a few years.
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Or, renters can also choose a lump-sum payment based on the length of their tenancy.
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Former longtime Vancouver councillor Gordon Price described the policy on his blog Viewpoint Vancouver in 2022 as “the deal of a lifetime” for renters.
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Now, renter’s advisory committee co-chairman Nick Poppell says this deal should be extended citywide.
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“No renter should be left behind just because of their postal code,” Poppell said.
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Over the past year or two, rezoning signs have been popping up throughout the Broadway corridor. Some property owners trying to redevelop have hired tenant relocation specialists to meet with tenants and go through their options. Many tenants are understandably apprehensive about their futures.
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But Poppell says he hasn’t heard from any renters — at least not yet — who have been forced out of their neighbourhood by redevelopment in the Broadway area. If they’re out there, he says, the renter’s committee wants to hear from them.