Vancouver renters consider forming cooperatives to keep their homes

A group of renters in East Vancouver has collaborated with their landlord to avoid eviction, and have kept their homes. Led by David Fields, the former Liveable Region Coalition coordinator who rallied opposition against the Gateway Program, the tenants of three buildings at Salsbury Drive and Charles Street have become a co-op.

In an article published today (April 2) by the Georgia Straight, Fields explained that he’d like to see the approach become a model for the region.

Instead of renters being booted out of their places for renovations and massive rent increases, or conversions to condos taking place when owners are ready to sell (where this is not against the law), he said there are other solutions.

What does it take? Community action. And Fields noted this city is sometimes short on that.

“We were just a bunch of neighbours and renters,” he told the Straight, “but that changed. And everyone has received the benefits....In the western world and especially Vancouver, people are very much into doing their own thing. Collaborative action is not a common thing.

“One of the most radical things you can do now is get to know your neighbour. Maybe we can be an inspiration for people to take that radical first step.”

At the Co-op Housing Federation of B.C., political liaison Darren Kitchen told the Straight his phone has been ringing off the hook for the past few months, with groups of renters hoping to turn their buildings into co-ops.

In Vancouver, this used to be common, he said. Both the Manhattan Co-op, at Robson and Thurlow above the Starbucks, and Quebec Manor, at East 7th Avenue and Quebec Street, started when renters in those privately owned buildings organized to become a co-op, instead of losing their housing.

Now, he’s getting lots of calls from the West End.

“Back in those days, the federal government had a strong national housing program,” Kitchen said. “Now, that’s not the case, sadly.”

Two ways the feds could help co-op start-ups with, he said, are providing capital grants and lending money at a reduced interest rate—as the pre-1993 federal government used to do.

Kitchen said cooperatives provide security of tenure, and control over your housing—two things that elude lifelong renters.

Fields noted that his co-op is looking forward to working with the City of Vancouver’s affordable housing task force, to share its experience and hopefully spread the knowledge.