Social Housing in Vancouver - The 14 Sites

[Sheba]

B.C. law change will let City of Vancouver enact SRO vacancy control

The province has introduced law amendments that will allow the City of Vancouver to enact vacancy control on single-room occupancy (SRO) units in the Downtown Eastside.

Vacancy control refers to a policy where rent increases are tied to a unit, and not a tenancy, a move that many housing advocates have pushed for amid a housing affordability crisis.

In December 2021, Vancouver passed bylaws that enacted vacancy control for SRO units in the Downtown Eastside, with the units often geared toward low-income people who could not afford housing elsewhere.

However, those bylaws were struck down in 2022 after a lawsuit from two private SRO owners, with the courts ruling that the city's bylaws constituted an overreach of its authority, given that property owners were already regulated by the provincial Residential Tenancy Act.

Now, the province has stepped in to introduce amendments to its Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act, after a request from the city, which would allow Vancouver to go ahead with its bylaws.

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