What Vancouver needs is more data on renters. According to the 2018 Canadian Housing Survey, Vancouver and the province of BC still have the highest percentage of forced moves in Canada, despite initiatives by the provincial government. We know that renters outnumber owners and that they’re vulnerable to renovictions, but in what numbers and where, specifically? What affordable housing stock is left, and what condition it is in? What is the household income, job situation, gender, and so on of those forced to move?  Answering these questions will help level the playing field between renters and owners and developers so we can make a more equitable city.

I plan to use Kitsilano, Vancouver as a case study, and my immediate goal is to document renter data on income levels and mobility to identify potential rental-only zones so Vancouver can follow in New Westminster’s footsteps. Putting a halt to renovictions will allow renters to experience the right to “stay put” in affordable housing under rental-zoning bylaws.

To read the full research report please see my Pressbook,The 6th Eviction, “Making the Invisible Renter Visible.”

 

Topic Research

“Speculating on Vacancy” by Elsa Noterman, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GhE9ndVSjwufi0IMeyYQlteBD-DDzP2L/view?usp=sharing

Dr. Patrick Condon, free download link to his recent book about the pandemic and city eviction, Sick City: Disease, Race, Inequality, and Urban Land: https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5efd1c1c4e2740c1bb1bfb69/60001a4f82797d502d088dcf_Sick%20City%202021.pdf