Tag Archives: BC Ministry of Housing

Housing

BC’s new Canadians at higher risk for eviction from rentals

Editor’s Note: An excellent overview of BC’s eviction problem, told from the perspective of immigrants.

By  Diary Marif, New Canadian Media, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Rising eviction rates in B.C. and tenant-landlord disputes are causing stress and insecurity for tenants, especially immigrants.

At the Dispute Resolution Office in Burnaby, Borhan Moradi waited in line to challenge his landlord’s one-month eviction notice. Holding his file in one hand and ticket Number 31 in the other, he was among 30 tenants waiting to file disputes with their landlords.

Moradi was stressed; he spoke to NCM briefly because he had taken time off work to dispute and needed to return. He said he couldn’t believe his landlord’s “strange behaviour.”

“I have nowhere to go. It’s not easy to find a house,” Moradi said. “I am looking for justice.” 

According to a new report, renters in B.C. have the highest eviction rates in Canada. The University of B.C. report used the 2021 Canadian Housing Survey — the most recent statistics available — to estimate eviction rates across Canada. 

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Arts, Politics

Campbell River rescinds Permissive Tax Exemption cuts

(This post was originally published on Oct 13, additional material and audio added Oct 16)

There was an enormous public response to the city of Campbell River’s proposed Permissive Tax Exemption (PTE) cuts, made at the September 28 Council Meeting. Hundreds of people wrote letters and emails protesting this action and Campbell River was criticized by BC’s MInistry of Housing.  Consequently, most of the cuts were rescinded on Friday Oct 12, 2023..

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Housing

Number of Tri-Cities properties cashing in on short-term rentals spikes 45% in year

Editor’s note: To what extent are we looking at a province wide trend? Is this spike happening in our area, or is it a more urban phenomenon?

By Patrick Penner, Tri-Cities Dispatch, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The number of landowners in the Tri-Cities using their properties for short-term rentals spiked 45 percent in one year. 

In August, sites like Airbnb and Vrbo posted 807 active listings for Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, according to data provided by AirDNA, a market research provider.

That’s up from 446 total listings in August 2022. Despite the number of active listings being halved during the COVID-19 pandemic, overall rental growth still jumped 35 percent since 2018.

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Housing, Poverty

A remote Canadian island makes history in fight for affordable housing

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A remote Canadian island is breaking ground on a new way to buffer the negative effects short-term vacation rentals have on the housing crisis facing small, rural tourism-based communities. 

B.C.’s Cortes Island is making housing history as the first community in the province to tax short-term holiday rentals and have all the funds directed to affordable housing projects, said Mark Vonesch, the area’s Strathcona Regional District director. 

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Uncategorized

Nancy Beach vs the Property Assessment Review Panel

The opinions that follow are those of the person expressing them and not necessarily shared by Cortes Currents, or Cortes Radio.  

The following submission was made by Nancy Beach.

After dealing with BC assessment for 17 years or more, in regard to my small farm on Salt Spring Island, I have come to the conclusion that:

  1. Farm assessments should be administered by the Ministry of Agriculture, not the Ministry of Housing.
  2. The system for assessing farm status needs to be overhauled. It should not be lumped in with assessing the values of residential properties. 
  3. Farmers should be given adequate time to present and debate their cases. 
  4. More people who care about farms should sit on the board of the Property Assessment Appeal Board (PAAB), and the panel of the Property Assessment Review Panel (PARP).’
  5. PARP plan panel members making decisions concerning farms should be well educated about the farm regulations number. Pabst should not charge for their services. 
  6. BC Farmers need an organization to represent them, represent themselves and help defend their interests before the B. C. Assessment when necessary.
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