Skip to content

Mayor Mike Hurley putting developers before renters on housing task force, activists say

Stop Demovictions Burnaby to hold press conference ahead of council meeting tonight
Housing activists Metrotown
Housing activists have long rallied against the City of Burnaby's treatment of renters and a new mayor doesn't look like it will change that.

On Monday evening, Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley will face his first protest since being sworn into office less than three months ago.

He defeated incumbent Derek Corrigan, who faced regular protests over his policies that allowed renters to be evicted so their apartment buildings could be demolished to make way for new developments.

Now it’s Hurley’s turn to face angry housing activists. 

Stop Demovictions Burnaby plans to hold a press conference at Burnaby City Hall ahead of a council meeting where council is expected to appoint members to a new housing task force. 

The task force is set to include Hurley, three councillors, three representatives from development companies, the president of the Burnaby Board of Trade, the president of the Urban Development Institute (which represents developers), union representatives and people from supportive housing and co-op housing groups. 

There is one activist on the list: Murray Martin of ACORN who has led much of the fight against demovictions in Burnaby in recent years. 

Stop Demovictions Burnaby says the structure will disfavour Metrotown renters.

“As it currently stands, over half of the task force is made of developers, city councillors and pro-business organizations – institutions upholding the accumulation of capital and the dispossession of Indigenous territories, the dirty roots of the housing crisis,” a press release from the group says.

“There are no spots filled by or reserved for Metrotown residents at risk of eviction, and the union leadership and non-profit representatives on the task force are not equal to voices from the neighbourhood.”

Last week, Hurley told the NOW he had not been approached by Stop Demovictions Burnaby asking for a spot on the task force.

But the activist group says "Metrotown tenants remain left in the dark, with no information on how to join this mysterious task force – making us question the transparency of the process.

The NOW will have full coverage from the press conference and the following council meeting.