A tenants’ rights advocate says neighbourhoods with a high number of renters, such as Kitsilano (pictured), would benefit from forums led by people who have previously dealt with evictions.

Credit: Doug Shanks

NEWS: TRAC to handle Olympic-related tenant disputes

As part of its efforts to prevent unfair evictions during the lead-up to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the City of Vancouver has hired the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre (TRAC) to help renters deal with Olympic-related tenancy issues. The City had originally set aside $40,000 for a tenant-assistance worker to start work this past spring, with the position remaining active through Games time. The position will now be shared among TRAC staff, who will hire additional part-time workers to help run a drop-in office at an as-yet-undetermined location.

Games-related tenant-assistance work will focus on helping tenants understand and exercise their rights under the Residential Tenancy Act, help them prepare for dispute resolution hearings at the Residential Tenancy Branch, and assist them with landlord-tenant disputes. TRAC will also have a supervising lawyer on hand to act as a resource to tenants. TRAC has set up a special tenant-assistance phone line and e-mail address for dealing with Olympic-related tenancy issues (604-255-5102; help@tenants.bc.ca).

TRAC spokesperson Judy Johanson says she expects an increase in tenants contacting her as the Olympics draw nearer, and as one-year leases signed in December or January come to an end. “The whole idea is to foresee that this is happening,” she says. She also expressed confidence that the City and local advocacy groups have done a good job in spreading the word about increased tenant-advocacy services during Games time. The City has set up an online tenant registry (Vancouver.ca/OlympicsTempAcc_Net) for renters who are concerned about unfair displacement during the Games.

The West End, a neighbourhood in which 80 per cent of households rent, has been the site of a number of eviction cases that have been hotly disputed by tenants, some of whom have taken their cases as far as BC Supreme Court. West End Residents Association (WERA) director Christine Ackermann fought an eviction in advance of renovations — known as “renovictions” — at the Glenmore building (at Barclay and Nelson) last May. After disputing the eviction at the Residential Tenancy Office, she was able to keep her apartment. Since then, she has been heavily involved with tenant advocacy in her neighbourhood. Given what she has learned in the past year about dealing with B.C.’s tenancy laws, she’s not sure if TRAC is the right organization to be dealing with Olympic-related evictions.

“Based on my own eviction, and through my volunteer experience gathering feedback from Vancouver tenants, I am very skeptical that TRAC will be a true advocate for Vancouver renters during the Olympics,” Ackermann told WE. “Answering phones to simply answer questions from a rule book will not provide any lasting legacy for Vancouver renters who lose their homes because of Olympic greed. It certainly will not provide any increased support to Downtown Eastside residents who are dealing with a completely different renter’s ball game in the SROs.”

Instead of the current TRAC model for Olympic-related tenant-assistance work, Ackermann would like to see a more community-based model, in which volunteers who have personally experienced evictions hold education forums in neighbourhoods with high renter populations, such as Mount Pleasant, Kitsilano, and Fairview. “Educating tenants in a meaningful way now would provide benefits beyond the March 2010 end point of this [tenant advocacy position],” she says. “WERA will be watching and monitoring this new service from TRAC to measure its effectiveness for West End tenants.”