Anthea Alexander has lived in her one-bedroom apartment at 6687 Marlborough Ave. for the decade since her retirement.
“As a senior, it was just perfect for me,” she said.
But if a proposed highrise development for the block she lives on gets approval from city hall, the 75-year-old will be looking for a new home next spring.
“I just turned 75 yesterday, and here I am looking at homelessness come the end of May,” she said. “I just don’t know how it’s going to go.”
Alexander was one of a couple dozen residents who turned up to city hall for a public hearing to voice opposition to a rezoning application for seven properties on Dunblane and Marlborough avenues.
The application, put forward by Polygon Development, will see the demolition of seven older rental buildings in the Metrotown area to make way for a 38-storey highrise.
In all, 35 rental units will be lost under the new development, including Alexander’s apartment. She pays $735 and has no idea where she will move if evicted. Alexander was at the public hearing in hopes of getting city council to say no to the rezoning.
One by one, residents offered their opposition to the development and shared their stories.
Sherry Chen and her family are facing eviction for the second time in less than five years. She told council she wants to stay in Burnaby but doesn’t know where she’ll be able to rent, and she doesn’t have the money to buy.
“As an average-income working-class person, I can’t afford it,” she said.
Matthew Hunter lives in the neighbourhood and was evicted from his apartment at 5025 Imperial St. for another development.
He found a new place, but his rent increased and the compensation he received only covered his moving costs. He told council he’s worried his new home will be up on the block at some point in the future. He urged the city to build more rental housing.
“All I would really want is to have apartments available in Burnaby that we could rent from for under $1,000 a month, I hope that is not too much to ask,” Hunter said.
Metrotown resident Trevor Gibbens hammered council over the development plans, from the impact on traffic to park land. He also asked where all the people facing eviction will go.
“I like a mixed community,” he said. “I don’t want highrises.”
Wanda Mulholland, coordinator of the Society to End Homelessness in Burnaby, urged the city to create bylaws and zoning that protect affordable housing, suggesting such possibilities as rent controls, one-for-one replacement policies and dedicating city-owned land for social housing.
She also suggested collaboration between all three levels of government is the only way to fix the issue.
“Over the past few years the general public has frequently expressed their anger at so many Burnaby people losing their homes due to demolitions,” Mulholland said.
The rezoning application is expected to be back in front of council for the second reading in early October.
Coun. Nick Volkow said he hasn’t decided how he’ll vote on the rezoning application and congratulated the people who spoke out for telling their stories to council.
“I think it’s important that people, especially in the development and political realm, to have an opportunity to see the people that are going to be facing the consequences of the decisions that potentially might be taken in the political realm,” he said.
He called the housing issue a “major crisis,” noting the federal and provincial governments have avoided their responsibility, but the pressure is on now Burnaby.
Coun. Sav Dhaliwal said he understands the anxiety people are facing but suggested it’s out of the city’s hands. He said council will continue to advocate on behalf of the residents behalf to the provincial and federal governments.
Prior to the public hearing, Alliance Against Displacement, which has organized the Stop Demovictions Burnaby campaign, organized residents outside city hall.
Ivan Drury, a spokesperson for the group, said the group continues to oppose the demolition of the buildings as part of the new development.
He argued city council has the authority over rezoning and the politicians’ responses to the group’s questions are diversions from the issue.
“The effect of the absurd process is that, by now, people are starting to understand this is completely Burnaby’s responsibility and they’re just dodging it,” Drury said.
The group was also behind the July occupation of an abandoned building set for demolition for another development.
Drury said the campaign has no choice but to continue with civil disobedience, adding they want people to refuse to leave their homes or cooperate with an eviction.
