FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Vancouver BC July 29th 2015
On October 3rd
2014, residents of the Stamps Place Housing Complex were informed the
BC Housing was immediately putting our housing up for sale to a private
nonprofit. Despite repeated requests to BC Housing that tenants be
involved in any decisions about the future for our homes, our requests
have been ignored. To date, no decision has been announced but BC
Housing maintains that the land sale will go forward as planned and that
a decision will be announced in due course. We have received this
information not directly from BC Housing, which has never responded to
us, but through second-hand reports.
In
the interim, a number of substantive issues have arisen which must be
addressed before BC Housing proceeds with the Stamps sale:
- The Tenants Council has filed a complaint with the Ombudsperson’s Office re lack of fair process, specifically due to the constricted time available for any group to respond to the proposed sale, and to the fact that BC Housing has accepted Atira Housing as one of the possible purchasers, despite the direct conflict of interest involved due to the marriage between the CEOs of BC Housing and Atira.
- The BC Auditor General is investigating the government’s property sell-off. As the Stamps property sale will be potentially affected by the result of that investigation, no sale should go forward until the completion of that investigation.
- A resident’s complaint has been filed with the BC Privacy Commissioner raising concerns that BC Housing is proposing to hand over personal family information to the to-be-chosen nonprofit without specific consent from the resident. The resident is particularly concerned about information regarding the children, as private organizations do not offer the same level of security and privacy guarantees as do government agencies.
We
are also upset because BC Housing has clearly lost interest in
supporting the Stamps tenants, and our complex is suffering as a result.
Most staff have been transferred out and we now have only two staff
members covering a complex of 375 suites. There are no staff on site
overnight, although we live in the most dangerous neighbourhood in
Vancouver and far more people are outside in the evening during the
summer.
BC
Housing has virtually stopped responding to maintenance calls. They had
implemented a very effective bug busting program here some months ago,
but have now removed all the equipment, and residents are once again
having to cope with pests and bug bites. Despite the shortage of
affordable housing in the city, a number of suites in Stamps now sit
empty. We can only speculate on the reason, although suspect that BC
Housing simply doesn’t want to pay for the necessary refurbishment.
No matter what BC Housing’s
plans, they have responsibilities to our residents until they formally
transfer ownership. Their current lack of care is completely
unacceptable.
Many
of us are feeling increasingly trapped by our circumstances. Vancouver
is clearly facing a crisis in housing affordability. Should any new
owner of the complex raise our rents or prove to be a poor housing
manager, too many of us may end up facing homelessness or find our
children subjected to poor housing. The security we have so valued with
BC Housing will disappear. Once the complex is under private ownership,
many of our current protections will be lost.
We
firmly believe that the only way to guarantee that the Stamps Place
complex will remain affordable is to ensure that the land remains in
public ownership. Therefore we have now written to the City of Vancouver
to request that they purchase the land from BC Housing and establish it
as a permanent land trust. Securing the Stamps Place land for the
future will fit well with the City’s aspirations to support housing for seniors and families. We are hopeful that the City will work with us
Stamps
Place is too valuable to lose. We once again plead with BC Housing and
the Provincial Government to reconsider and to work with us and with the
City to protect our homes.
For more information contact:
Guy Wakeman, President, Stamps Place Tenants Council, 778-231-1729
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