The British Columbia government is moving to limit how much landlords can hike rents in single-room occupancy (SRO) units in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
The move comes at the request of the city, which saw its own attempt to implement so-called “vacancy control” blocked by the courts.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said the legislation was necessary given a “disproportionately high” rate of tenant evictions in SROs, leading to homelessness.
“As we work to replace SROs over the long term, we cannot risk losing the current affordable housing stock they provide,” Kahlon said in a statement Monday.
“We are protecting vulnerable people who are being exploited by some bad actors who are using pressure tactics on tenants to leave their rental units so they can hike the rent, leaving them with nowhere else to live.”
The province is introducing amendments to the Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act, which will allow the City of Vancouver to implement single-room accommodation bylaws to regulate rent increases at unit turnover.
“In recent years, SRO rent prices have surged by 21%, resulting in over 500 tenants being displaced from private SROs,” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said in a statement.
“Last year alone, over 900 rooms were rented at a substantially higher cost per month, placing them out of reach for many low-income residents.”
Sim added that the legislation was a “temporary solution,” adding that the city needs senior levels of government to buy more “housing of last resort” to keep the city’s lowest-income residents from becoming homeless.
Vancouver first tried to implement a vacancy control bylaw in 2021, which would have tied SRO rents to a specific unit, rather than to its tenant.
That bylaw would limit rent hikes to the rate of inflation for units with a monthly rent of $500 or higher and at the rate of inflation plus five per cent for units with rent under $500.
Two landlords took the city to court over the policy, arguing the city had overstepped its authority under the Vancouver Charter and that rent increases are already regulated under the Residential Tenancy Act.
The B.C. Supreme Court agreed, quashing the bylaw, a decision that was upheld by the B.C. Court of Appeal in February.