Renoviction: New Canadian word

Birthplace of word: Vancouver, British Columbia

Year of birth: 2008

 

Definition: Renoviction is a new housing buzzword, perhaps a buzz-saw word. It is a portmanteau word, a blend of renovation + eviction, a neological nightmare for British Columbia tenants. Renoviction is the act of evicting longtime tenants from their rental houses and apartments by moneybags landlords who announce huge renovation plans that require the emptying of apartments and homes to be renovated. Once out, the tenants are not allowed to renew their leases until they agree to monstrous rent increases, sometimes double what they paid before the renoviction.

The new word was coined by B.C resident activist, Heather Pawsey. (See email below)

The province of British Columbia’s rental legislation has been, historically, completely biased in favour of landlords and wealthy, often absentee property owners, squeezers of the poor and grinders of widows, orphans and the elderly, exploiters who sit on their fat, silky-panted asses in places like Hong Kong and evict Canadian old people whenever they wish. The B.C. law, on the other hand, treats tenants as poor, vile scum to be kicked around and tossed out whenever the rich owners say so.

Owners can clear all tenants out of an about-to-be-renovated property and then jack new rents sky-high and make the same tenants pay the new rent or look elsewhere. Some tenants in Vancouver, who have lived in the same rental accommodation for twenty or thirty years, are being kicked out on the street, only to be invited back if they cough up “reno” hikes of 100%!

The provincial government of British Columbia and the municipal bullies of the city of Greater Vancouver have turned a deaf ear to tenant protests and treated tenants like low-class human garbage for years. Now, finally, tenants’ organizations have awoken to the fact that their rights are being ignored and their future put in peril, all so a bunch of money-grubbing rich bastards can squeeze a few more bucks out of ordinary people, at a time when most Canadians are going to be hurt financially in serious ways.

 

Evicted wheelchair-bound tenants await help.

 

Let’s hope that renoviction becomes illegal and that the word passes soon into the desuetudinous dump heap of verbal history. But, given British Columbia rightwing disdain for anyone who isn’t rich, don’t hold your breath — or your apartment key.

 

Early Citation of the New Word:

Nov. 12/08

“They say they are victims of a new trend in B.C. - nicknamed ‘renoviction’ - in which landlords evict tenants by announcing big renovation plans.”

— Jane Armstrong in The Globe and Mail

 

Email from The Coiner of This New Word

Hello Mr. Casselman -

My name is Heather Pawsey. I'm a resident of the Seafield Apartments in Vancouver, currently facing eviction by our new landlords, Gordon Nelson Investments Inc. I am also the originator of the word "renoviction", which was subsequently picked up and used (with relish) by both the Globe and Mail, and CBC TV and Radio here in Vancouver while covering this story.

I was attempting to explain our situation to one of my university students and, through a combination of fatigue, stress, and an early morning start, inadvertently came out with "renoviction." I immediately realized it very succinctly and evocatively described the threat we're facing, and shared it with the rest of my Seafield community. It has now, indeed, become a buzz-word in this beleaguered city.

I can only echo your sentiments that it quickly becomes an obsolete, meaningless term. In the mean time, our fight continues.

Thanks for a great web site!

Yours truly,
Heather Pawsey
http://seafieldapartments.com/

 

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More Email:

Hi Bill,

It’s great that you found ‘Renoviction’.

I thought you might like to know that the word was coined by one of
the Seafield residents, my wife Heather Pawsey. Heather herself is
also a fervent supporter of things Canadian, particularly in her music
career. Details at http://www.heatherpawsey.com

Of course, the prospect of ‘renoviction’ itself at the hands of these
former internet gambling Bodog dudes is not so great for us—although we will win in the end...

Best wishes, and thanks for a fascinating web site,

Tim Pawsey


Stop mass evictions!
http://seafieldapartments.com/

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Other web mentions of renoviction:

http://myrightword.blogspot.com/2008/12/renoviction.html

 

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Year End Highlights Dec 29, 2009

Quoted from The Vancouver Courier

“RENOVICTION”

In 2008 the term “renoviction” entered the lexicon out of a sense of frustration and vulnerability. The term describes the practice of landlords evicting tenants under the guise of doing renovations, either real or merely cosmetic, to increase rents. The story of 2008 is the continued evictions of tenants in Vancouver to increase the revenue of rents.

The West End is most vulnerable to renovictions. Eighty-two per cent of West Enders rent. Vacancy rates have been at historical lows for the past three years. In April, 20 tenants of the Glenmore at 1885 Barclay St. were given eviction notices. Ten tenants made to arbitration at the Residential Tenancy Office and negotiated a settlement to stay in their building. Of these 10 tenants, a new community leader emerged: Christine Ackermann.

Ackermann did not just fight to keep her home; she also helped her fellow tenants file for arbitration. Her tenacity and determination inspired her fellow tenants to stick together, file their arbitration together and save their homes. Her mental toughness and emotional strength gave her the ability to look her landlord in the eye and know what they were doing was not right. This steely-eyed confidence allowed her to understand that she needed to stand up to them and save the homes of her community.

Not only did Ackermann take a leadership role in her own building, but she also became an active member of the Renters at Risk Campaign. She helped organize a community forum and rallies. She has been a strong speaker on the rights of tenants and helped many folks find their voice and stand up for their rights. Recently, Ackermann has been assisting the tenants of the Seafield Apartments who are facing renoviction.

---Brent Granby, West End Residents Association (WERA)

 

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March-April 2009 Renoviction Update

In April 2009, do landlordly squeezings of poor tenants continue? Of course they do. Why would they not, with Vancouver’s city government blindly supporting landlords and treating tenants like medieval scum. Especially odious is the covert homophobia of Vancouver’s municipal authorities as they overlook gougings and renovictions. Almost 100% of gay Vancouverites are renters, and many renovictions are secretly designed to rid buildings of gay tenants. If ever there was a reason for gay political activism in Vancouver, this is it.

Vote these landlord-coddlers out of office as soon as you can or be expelled from your homes! Don’t sit around gay clubs to espouse apolitical nonchalance and boogie til you puke. Kick these landlord-rimming city politicians out into the rain! They have no time to protect the people who elected them but oodles of hours to pump their electors’ tax money into insane Olympic projects while fondling Olympic bribes and cooing softly to athletes, “Let the injections begin.”

Why wouldn’t landlords pretend the feudal suppression of lowly peasants can still happen in British Columbia with a provincial government led by premier Lord Gord, a shameless, lickspittle kisser of rich ass, a pussy-chasing yoyo fawningly subservient to wealthy interests, who spews contempt for ordinary B.C. citizens with every Grecian-formula breath he exhales?

Below is one recent update direct about Vancouver tenants.

 

 Renters Demand Changes to

B.C.’s Residential Tenancy Act

By Shauna Lewis

X-Tra West

“They’re basically destroying community if they continue to do this,” says longtime tenant Andrew Simmons, pointing to the companies behind many of the eviction notices.

“If companies like Hollyburn Properties and Gordon Nelson Investments continue to purchase more and more buildings then they are forcing out those people that are on the margins  — they are forcing out young gay people.

“It’s only going to be changed through legislation,” Simmons says.

The RTA currently allows property owners to raise rents above the 3.7 percent allowable annual hike if they can demonstrate that the increase will put the units on par with the area’s market value.

The Act also allows property owners to kick tenants out if they can prove that major renovations are needed on the units.

Both sections of the Act need to be changed, renters say.

Tenants of the Seafield Manor on Pendrell St are the latest in a string of West Enders fighting for their homes. They were notified in January that their landlord, Gordon Nelson Investments, is seeking a 73 percent rent increase.

The tenants are fighting the increase at the Residential Tenancy Branch.

“Our landlords are the new Hollyburn,” asserts Brian Broster, who shares a two-bedroom apartment in the Seafield with partner Ross Waring.

Hollyburn Properties, often in the headlines over the last few years for renovation-based evictions, recently lost a case before the Residential Tenancy Branch when an arbitrator ruled the company couldn’t evict some Nelson St tenants for owning cats.

Broster and Waring worry that the proposed rent hike from their landlord  — which would cost them an extra $800-plus per month  — will be enough to send them packing.

“As [the West End] becomes more and more subject to these types of landlords, people from all walks of life are going to find it harder and harder to stay here,” says Waring.

“Buildings have been scattered and shattered by this type of landlord techniques,” states Broster.

“It’s not just the gay community that is going to be affected by this gentrification,” adds neighbour Donald Ransom. “It’s going to affect senior citizens, it’s going to affect people who have children, it’s going to affect 75 percent of people who work at St Paul’s and live in the West End.”

Ransom and his partner David Bronstein moved to the West End from Surrey a few years ago for the neighbourhood’s sense of community. “It’s part of what you are and who you are,” says Bronstein.

“You can’t expect a landlord not to make a profit, but in my mind there is a limit on how much of a profit you are going to get, how you are going to get it and what that profit is meant to accomplish,” says Ransom.

“These guys are implying that the market is what they can get for an empty apartment,” says Waring. But they are dictating the market, he claims.

“How can we set rents?” retorts Jason Gordon of Gordon Nelson Investments. “I wish I could set rents,” he says.

Gordon Nelson Investments, which Gordon co-owns with brother-in-law Chris Nelson, owns 114 apartments in four West End buildings.

With such a small amount of real estate it’s ridiculous to assume Gordon Nelson could set the market, Gordon says.

“I think it’s awful what they have done,” Gordon continues, referring to the Seafield tenants’ decision to dispute their rent increases.

“It’s a travesty and an extreme waste of time,” Gordon says. “In a city where we are dealing with true homelessness, they have hogged the limelight and likened themselves to people we need to help.”

The Seafield tenants made their case to the Residential Tenancy Branch Mar 11. A decision is expected by mid-April.

By not raising rents to reflect market value, Gordon claims he is paying for his upper-middle class renters out of pocket. “I subsidize their lifestyle every month,” he says, adding that he gives to a “shitload of causes” and should not have to supplement his tenants’ incomes.

Gordon suggests an exchange in ownership might be the solution. “Maybe the tenants will buy the building?” he asks.

“I would sell anything for the right price,” he says. “Except my kids.”

Prior to last November’s municipal election, Gregor Robertson actively addressed renters’concerns in the West End. Although the Residential Tenancy Act falls under provincial jurisdiction, Robertson promised Seafield residents during a press conference that if he became mayor, the city would more carefully scrutinize renovation permit requests from landowners so as to eradicate renovictions.

“We have asked the city’s legal staff to review the building permit system to see if there is any way to prevent people from ‘renoviction’ and we’ve found that it is very difficult,” city councillor Geoff Meggs recently admitted.

“The building permit process is not equipped to deal with landlord-tenant relations,” he explains.

Meggs says residential building renovation permits were originally designed for building safety and upkeep. City staff have no way of determining what, if any, ulterior motives building owners may have in requesting renovation permits.

“The city is legally bound to honour renovation applications that pass inspection,” Meggs says.

Meggs says the city has examined the Vancouver Charter’s building codes and permits and found nothing to protect tenants from ‘renovictions.’

“We’ve come up empty,” he admits. “It’s something we’re continuing [to examine] but we haven’t found the magic bullet yet. We’ll keep looking, but we’ve failed.

“We have to change the provincial law,” Meggs concludes.

“We have to find affordable housing stock, but that’s not going to help the people facing eviction today.”

Despite repeated attempts to reach him, housing minister Rich Coleman did not return Xtra West’s calls.
But his office did issue a press release Mar 18 announcing the opening of “a new outreach office in Vancouver to give tenants and landlords improved access to information about their rights and responsibilities.”

“Affordability is key to diversity and livability in the West End,” says Brent Granby, president of the West End Residents Association.

Granby says 82 percent of the people living in the West End are renters. The threat of displacement due to rental hikes and “renoviction” is real for residents whose median income is $38,000 year, he says.

“It’s their home and they don’t know where they’ll move next,” agrees the area’s NDP MLA, Spencer Herbert.
Herbert introduced a private member’s bill in the BC legislature last November to eliminate the section of the RTA that allows landlords to raise rents above the allowable limit to the market value in a particular area.

So far the bill has not made it past first reading. But Herbert promises to re-introduce it this spring.

“This is my heart. This is one of the main reasons I got into politics,” he says.

“The landlords have tried to use any means they can. The BC Liberals have been pretty clear about not changing the RTA,” Herbert says.

“I’m very worried,” admits Simmons. “If the Liberals win in the spring election I will start looking for a place to buy.”

--- Shauna Lewis, writing in X-Tra West

 

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© 2012 William Gordon Casselman

 

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