A Vancouver housing co-operative has prevailed in a dispute with a former resident who did not make the cut of being a good neighbour.

A tribunal ruled in favour of the Lakewood Terrace Housing Co-operative, which denied the application of Rodger Levesque to change his status from associate member to principal member.

Becoming a principal member would have qualified Levesque to be placed in an internal waiting list for a transfer to another unit at the co-op.

Levesque lived at Lakewood Terrace for about nine years as an associate member.                                    

He used to live with another principal member of the co-op, who was not a party to the dispute before the Civil Resolutional Tribunal (CRT).

In September 2016, Levesque moved in with Janis Gunn, also a principal member.

Gunn’s unit is a two-bedroom home, and Levesque has three children.

The five were underhoused at the East Vancouver co-op located near Trout Lake and Commercial Drive.

The man wanted to move to a two-bedroom unit for himself and his children.

However, the co-op’s membership committee denied his application to become a principal member.

Levesque and Gunn filed a claim before the CRT, alleging that the co-op acted in “bad faith”.

They alleged that the co-op relied on “gossip and innuendo”.

In reasons for decision, tribunal member Kristin Gardner ruled that the co-op directors “followed the applicable rules and policies”.

Levesque has a “history of past conflict”, which was enough to disqualify him from becoming a principal member.

Gardner noted that based on evidence, the “concern was not necessarily that Mr. Levesque had been involved in previous (or current) undisclosed conflicts”.

It’s that he “demonstrated a lack of insight into how he dealt with a specific past conflict”.

“Further, I find the conflicts issue was not the only basis for the directors’ decision not to grant Mr. Levesque a principal membership and thus a place on the wait list,” Gardner explained.

“I find the directors properly relied on the membership committee’s concerns that Mr. Levesque did not appear motivated to join any co-op committees, and had not made any substantial contribution to the maintenance committee in the past (despite reported skills in maintenance and home renovations), among other concerns,” the tribunal member continued.

Moreover, Gardner wrote, “I find Mr. Levesque’s interview provided a reasonable basis for the directors to conclude he did not meet the selection criteria of commitment to cooperation, good neighbourliness, and being meaningfully involved in the co-op.”

Hence, Gardner found that Levesque and Gunn have “not shown the directors acted in bad faith or without the best interests of the co-op in mind, nor that the directors failed to exercise the required care, diligence and skill in making its decision”.

Levesque and Gunn also wanted the co-op to disclose “adequate reasons” for denying Levesque’s application.

They claimed that “references to past conflicts were vague and came from anonymous sources”.

Gardner also dismissed this point, noting that the co-op is “not expected or required to provide fulsome (or any) reasons”.

The co-op told the tribunal that Levesque no longer lives at Lakewood Terrace.