Whereas the practice of renovictions, by which some landlords evict their tenants under the guise of performing major renovations and then significantly increase the rent of those units, is on the rise in our province; And whereas this practice is very disruptive to those impacted, including the elderly, low-income families and new immigrants, and contributes to housing unaffordability and homelessness; And whereas municipalities are limited in their ability to address this issue and many tenants are unaware of their rights or are reluctant to exercise them: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM urge the provincial government to address the problem of renovictions in an effort to maintain affordable rental stock; And be it further resolved that the provincial government identify ways to encourage and incent building owners to re-invest in existing rental stock instead of downloading these costs fully onto existing tenants.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs Housing Government knows that not enough has been done to help renters in BC. A key priority of our government is to amend the Residential Tenancy Act to provide stronger protection for renters. This issue is a growing problem as tenants face challenges finding new accommodation because of the low vacancy rate and the high cost of rental housing. Government is committed to building 114,000 units of affordable housing through partnerships which should increase vacancy rates. Ministry staff are hard at work developing options so the Province can deliver on this commitment and to mitigate the impact on renters being evicted due to renovations and ensure that landlords are following the law. The Residential Tenancy Act strives to strike the right balance between the rights of landlords and tenants. Our government will continue to do all we can to ensure that the Residential Tenancy Act protects renters without discouraging investment in rental housing.