Rain didn’t deter some 60 people from attending an affordable housing rally in Metrotown on Saturday.
In an attempt to protect low-income housing from redevelopment, protesters called on Burnaby city council to place a moratorium on the demolition of affordable housing units until a policy is created to either replace them or preserve them.
“We had residents who currently live in buildings that are slated to be demolished speak at the rally and others who live in Burnaby and fear they’re going to be next,” Dave Diewert, one of the organizer's with the Social Housing Alliance, told the NOW. “I think under this current municipal government that seems to give green lights to all these massive developments, that people feel very vulnerable in terms of their housing.”
The event was organized by the Stop Demovictions in Burnaby Campaign, a coalition made up of the Metrotown Residents’ Association, Social Housing Alliance and ACORN Burnaby.
The group wants all three levels of government to act, according to Diewert. Canada needs a national housing strategy, while at the provincial and municipal level, funding for social housing needs to become a priority, he explained.
“In Victoria, for example, they said, ‘We have a housing crisis, we’re going to raise money and build social housing, and so we’re going to raise property taxes.’ In Burnaby, it’s quite different. City council seems to think they have no homeless problem, … This is a developer’s heaven here,” Diewert said.
There seems to be a consensus among local residents that displacement is normal in Burnaby, Diewert added.
He said the coalition’s goal is to mobilize people and get them educated about the issues so they can “fight back.”
“I think it’s kind of the ongoing work of building a local political consciousness that is willing to resist these spurts of displacement.”
Coun. Colleen Jordan, chair of the planning and development committee, said she couldn't comment on the demonstration because city staff are currently working on a report about the issues raised during a June 23 public hearing on the rezoning of Silver Avenue.
"Until we receive that staff report, which will also be available to the public, it would not be proper for me to comment," she wrote in an email. "The rules around the rezoning process are such that if a councillor expresses an opinion before the process is complete, the whole matter can be challenged."
During a June 22 interview, however, Jordan did say Burnaby faces a “conundrum” of trying to accommodate additional people in the region who also need housing, while having a concern for those who are being displaced.
The coalition, meanwhile, is in the process of organizing an evening all-candidates’ debate at Burnaby Neighbourhood House for Oct. 7. Diewert said this will be an opportunity for the public to challenge their MPs on the affordable housing crisis.
