Tenants face increasingly atrocious conditions, advocates say

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Tenants face increasingly atrocious conditions, advocates say

Vancouver Sun, British Columbia, Canada*

Woodward

Published: Friday, November 23, 2007

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=d014b898-2916-

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It wasn't the cockroaches that put Klara Huszti over the edge. Nor

was it the stench of thick black mould that had already caused

respiratory problems in her neighbours.

Huszti had finally had enough of her " nightmare " Surrey apartment

when, despite multiple calls to her landlord, the heat in the

building wasn't fixed for nearly five months.

" We are not poor, but we live like this?

It's horrible, " said Huszti, a massage therapist who has paid about

$600 per month for a one-bedroom suite for the past five years.

" But we have tried to find another place, and it's more expensive

and more dirty. "

An apartment vacancy rate of less than one per cent has led to a

situation where landlords can get away with housing even middle-

class tenants in atrocious conditions, advocates say.

" It's not just the Downtown Eastside. We're seeing older buildings

falling into disrepair throughout the Lower Mainland, with more

people being affected, " said Martha , executive director of the

Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre.

Poor maintenance results in dangerous conditions, she said,

referring to two east Vancouver incidents earlier this year: a

balcony that fell off one apartment building, and roof leaks that

caused ceiling collapses in another.

" It's important to speak up and change things before someone gets

killed, " said.

Disputes between landlords and tenants are on the rise as well --

dispute resolution applications to the residential tenancy office

rose 56 per cent to 28,000 from 2006 to 2007, according to housing

ministry statistics.

In the same period, the ministry added nine staff at the three

offices of the RTO in , Kelowna and Burnaby, bringing the

total to 68 -- only a 15-per-cent increase.

When a Vancouver Sun reporter called the RTO, an automated message

system said it would take 54 minutes before an agent could take the

call, and only in an emergency -- otherwise, an agent would call the

next day.

Rich , the minister responsible for housing in B.C., agreed

the RTO can't keep up with the demand.

" Oh, I'm not kidding anybody, we have a challenge and we're trying

to address it, " said in an interview Thursday.

But in order to build more housing, the federal government has to

make tax changes to encourage construction of new rental

accommodation, he said.

" Every housing minister across the country would say the same thing,

and we're meeting the federal minister in February to push for it, "

he said.

There are huge barriers to help for tenants, said Bruce Ralston, the

NDP MLA for Surrey-Whalley.

" Clearly, the system now is not working, " Ralston said Thursday as

he toured Huszti's building, Imperial Pines, a three-storey walk-up

near King SkyTrain Station, to show the problems faced by

middle-income renters.

" We're sick on and off, all from the mould, it's toxic, " said Janet

Cassidy, a 60-year-old who lives in the building. " There's flea eggs

all over the apartment. "

" I have ants infesting my place so I can't leave food out on my

counter or cupboards, " said April Bradridge, a 21-year-old single

mother of two who has been living at Imperial Pines for seven months.

Bradridge said conditions are so bad there she's moving before the

month is out.

Cassidy said that while the building was without heat, tenants

heated their rooms with their cooking stoves, adding $100 to each

monthly electricity bill.

On top of that, her rent -- $600 per month for a one-bedroom

apartment -- will increase by the maximum allowable $20 per month by

the end of the year.

What are we paying for? " she asked.

Huszti complained to the landlord, Onni Property Management, through

manager Guiseppe Laudisio. She said there was no response, so she e-

mailed the residential tenancy office on Aug. 9. She was told to

contact her landlord again before submitting an application for

dispute resolution.

Onni did not return calls from The Sun on Thursday.

Some landlords anticipate they will demolish the housing and replace

it with a more expensive set of suites, said Vancouver's deputy

licence inspector, Barb Windsor.

" Some landlords aren't prepared to put the money in, because it's

financially more viable to replace the suites or the buildings, "

said Windsor.

But that means more visits from municipal building and fire

inspectors, costing governments more money when money isn't spent on

inspections, said Ralston.

" Because the landlord doesn't do the basics, public resources are

called in to mop up the problems and we're spending more money, " he

said.

jwoodward@...

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