Current Projects

Strengthening BC's Residential Tenancy Act -After nearly a decade of working on housing issues impacting low-income people, we are turning our attention to reforming the legislation that governs tenancy in BC. We are working with advocates, lawyers and low-income people to develop recommendations for amendments to the Residential Tenancy Act in order to better protect the province’s most vulnerable tenants and BC’s low-income housing stock.  

Street and Traffic Bylaw - we are working to have the  City of Vancouver amend its Street and Traffic By-law to reflect the need of homeless people to protect themselves from the elements when they are forced to sleep outside. We are working through political and legal channels to have the City revise its by-law to reflect the principles of the  Adams decision which declared a Victoria by-law unconstitutional because it violated the right of homeless people to security of the person by  making it illegal for people with no option but to sleep outside to shelter themselves from the elements.

Past Victories

Provincial Government Purchase of 10 SRO Hotels - In 2007, after years of advocacy by Pivot, including the release of Cracks in the Foundation: Solving the Housing Crisis in Canada’s Poorest Neighbourhood a year before, the Provincial Government made the largest social housing investment in Vancouver in more than 10 years. The Province bought 10 Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels in Vancouver. While the purchase did not create new affordable housing units, the purchase the buildings ensured that nearly 600 units would not be lost to conversion and led to significant improvements to the deplorable conditions in many of the hotels.

Standards of Maintenance By-Law-  Single Room Occupancy Hotels provide some of the only affordable rental housing for Vancouver’s poorest residents. These hotels are often infested with bugs and rodents, lacking functioning heat or plumbing and generally in states of disrepair. The City of Vancouver has long had the power to rectify some of these problems through the Standards of Maintenance Bylaw, which give the City the power to enter a building and make essential repairs if the landlord refuses to do so, and then the bill the landlord through the property tax roll. However, enforcement of the Bylaw was declining as Vancouver’s housing crisis continued to grow. When the Picadilly Hotel was closed due to long-standing building standards violations in 2007, Pivot sued the City for its failure to enforce the Bylaw. In March of 2009, following discussions with Pivot, City Council finally resolved to pursue stronger enforcement. With the support of the counsel behind it, the Bylaw is working and much-needed repairs are going ahead at several buildings.

Renovictions- The term “renovictions” refers to the practice of exploiting a clause in the Residential Tenancy Act that allows landlords to evict tenants under the guise of performing major renovations and then increase the rent on the suite.  At the end of 2010, the residents of Seafield apartment building were facing this exact scenario. Just before serving the notices of eviction the landlords had submitted an application for a significant rent increase and were denied. Pivot represented the residents and the Residential Tenancy Branch supported Pivot’s position that the landlord was not acting in good faith and that the purpose of the eviction was to push through rent increases and not to renovate.