Vancouver’s West End Renters Given Eviction Notice

May 12th, 2008 Categories: West End

Hollyburn Group who own about 20 West End rental buildings gave eviction notices to the tenants of the Glenmore building at the corner of Gilford & Barclay.

82% of all the suites in Vancouver’s West End are rental and because the buildings were built in the 1960s and 1970s the rents are lower and attract a lower to middle income tenant. The vacancy rate in the neighbourhood is now 0.2%, in line with the downtown peninsula and not expected to change in the near future.

The tenants of the Glenmore building have been given til the end of June to find alternate accommodation. Their eviction notice said the building will be undergoing mandatory renovations that will render the suites unliveable but they would be welcomed to move back in once the suites have been renovated, however, the rents will be increased $300-500 pr month.

The Barclay at 1550 Barclay was recently converted from a rental to a strata. A site in the 1700 block Pendrell has a redevelopment permit on it.

It appears that Vancouver’s West End is ripe for picking and it has long been my opinion that the neighbourhood is undervalued. (read my recent post which was published in Ozzie Jurock’s monthly newsletter).

Many of the 3 and 4 storey walk-up rental buildings are in need of redeveloping as they are now over 50 years old and are not the best and highest use for the land. The type of accommodation has been rendered obsolete (no balconies, no parking, no elevator, no insuite laundry, etc.). Did you know you can search for West End listings on this site?

In the early 1990s the Vancouver City Hall placed a moratorium on the West End and sent the developers Downtown. Since Downtown is approaching built out status, no doubt the developers will refocus on the West End…a neighbourhood with 10,000 people living in it and very few condos compared to rental suites.

In the ’80s the developers moved into the West End and built condos where there were rental buildings. There was a big hoohaa at the time as many elderly tenants were evicted and had to leave the neighbourhood they had lived in for a very long time. I remember doing a number of transactions with middle aged ladies who had always rented and when they realized the situation was changing they bought a suite in a 99 year leasehold building. Subscribe and receive other West End posts

The current situation remains a sad one for the tenants who are being evicted but apartment building owners surely have the right to maximize the return on their investment.

What next for the West End? What is your vision for the West End? How do you think it should be redeveloped? Hirsies, midrises, townhomes? Condos versus rentals. Should the old rental buildings be left as is or upgraded?

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 5:02 pm and is filed under West End. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Vancouver realtor said:

You are 100% right about West End. It has long been undervalued. In my oppinion ,as a citizen of Vancouver and as a Vancouver realtor, West End is a beautiful place to live. But with regards to the appartement buildings owners, I don’t think that they should be so ruthless with their tenants. The return of their investment should not put above the lives of the people actually living there. On the other hand, old buildings should be renowated. It would provide a higher quality of living and also boost the attractivity of the neighbourhood.

# 13 May 2008 at 3:56 am

Maggie (author) said:

it will be interesting to see what city hall does with the current moratorium and what the west end residences want for the future redevelopment of their hood

# 13 May 2008 at 9:08 am

Diana Morency said:

The residents of the West End are not the ones causing the problems with homelessness and rental affordability issues. It is the developers, property management companies that are the problem. They buy property and speculate and try to shove through their developments ideas down our throats. Do you not understand that there is no room for this kind of development in the West End. There are currently 4 towers and another one being built in that area alone. So much has been lost in the last 47 years what is left MUST be protected. I am lobbying hard to have a complete ban on any further development in the West End. Is it possible that we can have a capitalist system and still have social integrity? I am concerned about the proposal for yet another over-priced condo with an offer of 33 rental units. Will it ever be possible to trust developers and property management companies to have morals and ethics to do the right thing? There should be an equal amount of rental and condos. Their offer to keep the façade is a pathetic attempt to keep us quite. Why the hell did they buy the property? This is just an olive branch being extended to pacify the people. Do they really care about the residents of the West End and how this will impact on the people that live here? What is your vision of the West End? The people that live here made the West End what it is today.

What makes the West End unique are the low rises, the Mom & Pop shops that still exist. Developers are sucking the vitality out of the West End. Where are the people who work at the “crappy” jobs supposed to live? They will not be commuting to downtown Vancouver to work at Starbucks when it costing them $10.00 per day in transit. If you people do not do your jobs and think about these re-zoning proposals and force social obligations you are going to lose the West End. Private companies will never think about the greater good as the motivation is to make money thus as City Planners you can force them if they want the permit to provide rental units at the suggested amount in this letter. Why can’t the City for the first time force these developers to be socially responsible? You can set the example that developers who speculate on property must provide an equal amount of rental options for the people in the West End. How is offering 33 unties going to benefit the city if you do not cap what they can charge for rent? The development proposal is for a 20 story high-rise assuming 1000 units total. In order for it to benefit the City the number of rental units should be 400 and condos at 600 assuming that each condo will sell for 1 million that is 600 million dollars that is more then enough profit. Out of the 400 rental units 200 to market rent and the other 200 to be capped. Now, that is making a difference here in the West End. It sends the message that developers cannot railroad the process or assume they will get their re-zoning proposals approved because they applied. This may have never been done in Vancouver but it does not mean it shouldn’t be done. This process has been done in major European cities and we can do it here. Everyone is responsible for the problems in Vancouver and we cannot expect the developers to have a social conscience unless we compel them.

Did you know that the building they want to tear down was once an infamous brothel???

Did they do the research on what the average person makes per month that live in the West End? A vast majority of the residents that live here make modest to low income minimum wages. ($1,408.00 per month) I would like to know what the company will charge for these rental units. Will you be charging the artificially priced market rents that Hollyburn charges for a 1 bedroom? Keeping in mind that thousands of people living here in the West End are having difficulty paying the current market rents? Even better declare the West End off limits to any further development or loss of off low rises. There is 1% vacancy rate does this not point to the obvious? We have nowhere to live except where we are PLEASE DO NOT APPROVE ANY RE-ZONING. The people living here make minimum wage, some are on disability etc. and cannot afford to relocate.

What is the rent going to be for these units? Will these rental units be rented at a reasonable rate? I do not trust developers as they are motivated by money and greed. These units should have a maximum of no more then $850.00 per month for a one bedroom and $1000.00 for a two bedroom. It should be based on the economic reality of the residents of the West End and not the artificial inflated market rent.

The people currently living in the West End do not make $50,000.00 and are suffering. If they want to build this place there must be a guarantee that the rental units be capped and to take into account what the average person makes rather then market rent.

The Vancouver market rent is artificial and inflated. It’s not what people can afford its what people are forced to pay by thoughtless and selfish property owners who are looking only after their interests.

So, please address the issue and what guarantees will you provide to ensure that the rental units are rented at a normal rental rate that you can find in Montreal, Ottawa etc? What are you going to do with the rest of these re-zoning applications? Will you actually say no to some of them?

# 14 May 2008 at 10:55 am

Al said:

Diana’s smart.

# 9 September 2008 at 10:22 am

Eddy Elmer said:

“There was a big hoohaa at the time as many elderly tenants were evicted and had to leave the neighbourhood they had lived in for a very long time.”

The tone here is very dismissive. It wasn’t a “hoohaa”; it was a serious concern on the part of people who had made the West End what it is today — the very reason that developers want to start building here again.

# 13 December 2008 at 6:58 am

Diana Morency said:

RIPE FOR THE PICKING!!!! So typical of someone who has no forethought to those people that are living here in the West End. It has been a renters enclave for many., many years and now that the developers have used every bit of land up are now trying to gobble up some more. The real Estate speculators who come into areas such as the West End are so guilty of the current problems we face. Get the hell out of here…Do you not recall the trauma it caused, the heartache it caused but you I am sure just focused on the commission cheques you would get with no afterthought to the people living here or the people that were forced to move. Tell me where do you think 60 thousand people are supposed to go if you had it your way? Port Moody, Coquitlam??? Is that a solution…I have heard many times by capitalists that if we cannot afford it then move…okay where to then…when the out lying areas cost just as much as the West End? The line in the sand has been drawn and we will as renters and tenants fight tooth and nail to perserve the West End and not make into another Manhatten…

# 27 January 2009 at 9:25 pm