Dan Fumano: Vancouver targets ‘vacancy control’ for SRO housing

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Vancouver City Council is set to make a couple of decisions next week that could send important signals about the future of one-bedroom homes, which provide homes for thousands of the city’s most vulnerable people.

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First, the staff is seeking council approval for a ” vacancy control policy on designated SRO units, meaning the maximum allowable rent increases would be tied to the unit and not the tenant.

Supporters of vacancy control, like COPE Coun. Jean Swanson, calls it a desperately needed measure that would prevent private sector landlords from raising rents when tenants move out, thus removing previously affordable units from the housing stock.

But Christopher Wall, one of those private sector owners and owner of eight Vancouver SROs totaling more than 500 rooms, says vacancy control is a “terrible idea” that would lead to the deterioration of these guesthouses.

Swanson and Wall, each prominent on the Downtown Eastside in their own way, disagree on everything. But they agree on one point: the answer is the end of private ownership of this type of housing.

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“The obvious solution is for the British Columbia provincial government and the federal government to combine to purchase every SRO in the City of Vancouver,” Wall said.

When asked how he would respond to criticism that he advocates that the government give him a check for his buildings, Wall said: “It would be beneficial to everyone. I think the province should be the owner of my portfolio ”.

“These are old buildings, they are getting more expensive to run, insurance is increasing,” Wall said.

It’s increasingly difficult for private landlords to maintain SRO buildings to reasonable health and safety standards, Wall said, and it would be impossible if rooms were rented for about $ 375 a month, the government’s shelter allowance for people with disabilities. social care.

Rents in Wall’s SROs average $ 595 a month, he said. That’s more than the $ 375 shelter fee, but far less than some other privately owned SROs that charge up to $ 1,000.

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Wall understands why vacancy control may sound good to politicians, he said, but it would force him to consider cutting things like pest control and 24-hour security.

“I can’t operate a building with rents of $ 400 a month,” Wall said. “I just can’t do it, it’s impossible.”

Swanson, who spent decades as an anti-poverty activist before being elected to the council in 2018, called Wall “one of the least evil investor owners.”

But she disagreed with him about vacancy control.

Swanson presented a Motion supported unanimously by the end of 2019 for the city to “urgently ask the provincial government to link rent increases to rooms, not to leasing in SRO-designated properties, in an effort to discourage speculative investment, delay rent increases, and discourage displacement of very low-income tenants in homelessness. “

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Additionally, Swanson’s motion directed city staff to “investigate alternative ways” to achieve that result within the power of the city, such as amendments to the single room accommodation statute.

Swanson said Tuesday that he is glad the city is not waiting any longer for the province to act. If the council approves the SRO’s vacancy control policy next week, Swanson said, he will see it as his greatest achievement on the council.

If it makes SRO housing less attractive to profit-seeking private sector operators, Swanson thinks it will be a good thing. “Hopefully, the flow of people toward homelessness will be cut a bit.”

This type of “last resort housing” is considered vital because, for decades, it has housed people who would otherwise be homeless.

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But many, including some major SRO operators, say that this congregate-style home, with small individual bedrooms and shared bathrooms and kitchens, is inadequate and should eventually be phased out and replaced.

TO second report on the council agenda next week talks about that.

City staff are asking the council to approve demolition of an SRO hotel owned by BC Housing at 52 East Hastings St. In this case, the 53 SRO units would be replaced by 53 self-contained social housing units at a shelter rate.

The development, jointly funded by BC Housing and Aboriginal Land Trust, is part of a bigger project which will eventually include around 113 social housing units.

That kind of replacement of SROs with standalone studios with private baths is something that should be scaled up and accelerated, said Janice Abbott, CEO of Atira, a nonprofit that operates 28 SRO buildings, most of which are owned and operated. provincial.

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I In September, Provincial Housing Minister David Eby and Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart also told Postmedia they want the SROs to be replaced by autonomous units and the private ones to be transferred to public ownership.

The vacancy monitoring report to be presented to the council next week also speaks to the city’s eventual overarching goal: to work with the provincial and federal governments on the strategy to fund the replacement of existing SROs with “decent and independent housing, Shelter fees for very low income residents. “

At that perspective, Wall said: “Perfect. Let’s do it. Sign me up. They have my number. “

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