Long-term residents shocked to learn about sale
Denise Ryan
Sun
When tenants of an apartment building at 288 East 14th in Vancouver found out their landlord had sold the 33-unit building, they were shocked to discover the units they had been living in were condominiums — and that the new owners planned to put them on the market immediately.
Lindsay Elliot, who moved into the building three years ago with her six-year-old daughter, said she would not have moved in if she thought her apartment could be sold out from under her — as a mother, she values stability.
Elliot said there has been little communication about the pending sell-off with residents, some of whom have lived in the building for 25 years.
“I got a call out of the blue from a real estate agent saying my place was valued at $270,000 and did I want to buy it. I don’t even know what’s going on,” said Ian Andrews, who has lived in his 475-square-foot unit for about five years.
Elliot said the tenants have been told the new owners, who are essentially flipping the units, are from Alberta. “They have no ties to the community, no interest other than making a profit.”
Although tenants may have the right to stay out their lease, buyers of high-priced properties can find ways to increase rents if their costs exceed the income the property generates.
It’s yet another way in which affordable rental stock in the city is being eroded, said Martha Lewis, executive director of TRAC, the Tenants Resource and Advisory Centre. Middle-income earners priced out of the buyers’ market are now being priced out of the renters’ market, she said.
“There is a complete disconnect where investors are over-paying for real estate, and as a consequence, rents shoot up,” said Lewis. “In several American cities average income earners are being priced out of the city and forced into the suburbs.”
The result, an urban centre of homeowners and high-income renters, changes the flavour of the city, and not in a good way. Lewis cites San Diego, where most average-income earners like nurses, teachers and police officers have been priced out of the city in which they work.
“Buyers are coming in from the U.S., from Calgary, from China. They’re looking for a safe haven to invest in, and that forces the prices up,” said COPE city councillor Ellen Wordsworth.
Youth, young families, single parents and many new Canadians are being forced out of the city, she said.
“We are in a desperate situation,” said Wordsworth. “We’ve got availability, but no affordability. Unless the federal and provincial governments step in, we can’t do a thing to change it.”
Andrews said, “I’ve saved for six years to try to put together a down payment, what with the cost of living in Vancouver being so high, it’s nearly impossible. I don’t know if I’ll be able to afford to buy my place — or any place in the city.”
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