B.C.’s new Rental Housing Task Force has been travelling the province hosting town halls, and on Wednesday night, it was Vancouver’s turn.
The task force, appointed by Premier John Horgan, has been given the job of gathering opinions from renters and tenants on ways they can fix the housing crisis.
The three person team is headed by Vancouver-West End MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert.
He said there has been one common theme for communities across the province.
“Consistently, we hear ‘you need to continue to support low, middle income housing,'” he said.
“So a lot of support for the B.C. government actually investing in housing because the private market isn’t providing enough housing for lower, even middle income people anymore.”
Andre Duchane is a renter in Vancouver’s West End.
“I am here because my building is facing a pending building wide renoviction,” she said.
Chandra Herbert said listening to people like Duchane is helping them work towards a potential solution.
“I’ve been surprised by the sheer number of people who have said ‘thank you for doing this,’ they wanted their voices heard, but have never been asked.”
The task force started in Maple Ridge at the beginning of June.
After their tenth and final stop in Surrey on Thursday, Chandra Herbert said they will collect the data and present it to the premier.