WERA Director Christine Ackermann was quoted at the City of Vancouver’s recent “West End discussion on community needs and affordability” in Extra West. Articulating one of WERA’s concerns with the City’s STIR program, Ms. Ackermann was quoted as saying:
“The amount of supply we are getting out of the STIR program isn’t really going to make a huge drop in the bucket for affordability,”
WERA directors Sharon Isaak and Christine Ackermann are quoted in a West Ender article by Jackie Wong in regards to letters sent to renters at the Windsor, 1924 Barclay, demanding higher rents by the company the owns the building.
Article posted here with the permission of the author.
More West End renters cry foul
Posted By: Jackie Wong
02/04/2010
Hollyburn Properties, a Vancouver-based property management company, has repeatedly come under fire in recent years from West End renters who claim the company has issued unreasonable rent increases and implemented unfair “renovictions” (eviction for the purpose of renovations). Last month, tenants of another Hollyburn apartment building alerted WE to rent increases that exceed the annual limit allowed by the provincial government. Yet while the manager of the building says those increases are “an isolated circumstance,” a similar situation has taken place at the same building twice in the last nine years.
In 2001, tenants of the Windsor apartment building, at 1924 Barclay Street, disputed rent increases at the Residential Tenancy Office; in 2004, landlords began evicting tenants with the justification that unoccupied suites would be necessary during renovations.
Most recently, two Windsor tenants received a letter from Hollyburn, dated January 8, asking them to sign off approval of a rent increase that would bring their suites up to market value. While the requested increases are at least three times the 3.2-per-cent annual allowable increase set by the B.C. government for 2010, Hollyburn cites a provision in the province’s Residential Tenancy Act that allows for increases above the annual allowable amount if those increases serve to bring the a suite up to market value. continue reading…
WERA Director Christine Ackermann is quoted in regard to the recent court decision from Seafield apartment filing which struck down a 30% rent increase. For the full story select the link below”
full Xtra West story
WERA director Christine Ackermann, IOCC Chair Am Johal and Wendy Pedersen CCAP
This article first appeared in the West Ender and is reposed here with the permission of the author.
homelessness, Olympics
Posted By: Jackie Wong
11/19/2009 12:00 AM
Housing, homelessness, and the 2010 Olympics will be the focus of a public forum on Monday (November 23) at SFU Harbour Centre’s Fletcher Challenge Theatre. The forum is part of the Right to the City lecture series organized by the Impact on Communities Coalition, an Olympic watchdog group.
The forum features speakers with a wide range of expertise on Vancouver housing and homelessness, including Martha Lewis of the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre; Wendy Pedersen of the Downtown Eastside’s Carnegie Community Action Project; and Reverend Ric Matthews of First United Church, the site of one of the first homeless shelters to open last winter under Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Homeless Emergency Action Team (HEAT).
While preparations for the 2010 Games have drawn criticism from housing and civil-liberties advocates, attributing all of the city’s housing issues to the Olympics is too simple, says Nathan Edelson, a former senior planner for the City of Vancouver and a speaker at the Right to the City forum. continue reading…
