Burnaby proposes changes to tenant assistance policy

City planners presented the latest proposed version of Burnaby’s Tenant Assistance Policy (TAP) to the Planning and Development Committee on Sept. 25, 2024. The recommended updates are the result of the second two-year review of the policy. The city last reviewed the TAP in October 2022. 

Since the current version of the TAP was introduced in 2019 and adopted in 2020, subsequent revisions have tried to address gaps in the policy and clarify the language. 

According to a staff report summarizing the changes, “The goal of these updates is to increase clarity and transparency of the TAP in advance of considering the development of a tenant protection bylaw at a later date.”

The TAP itself is attached to the meeting’s agenda for members of the public who wish to read the changes. The proposed changes are in the underlined red font. 

Some of the main changes include adding clarifying language regarding tenant eligibility and provisions for tenants with pets. One edit requires landlords to inform tenants who wish to move in after submission of the rezoning application. 

“After the eligibility date, rezoning applicants and property owners must inform prospective tenants of the active rezoning and TAP ineligibility as the TAP has already been applied. If tenants choose to move in after the eligibility date, a letter of ineligibility should be prepared for the household,” the policy said. 

Another edit is regarding tenants with pets: “If pets were permitted in the tenant’s unit at the rezoning site, the rezoning applicant must find that household interim housing options that permit the same number and kind of pets as were permitted at the tenant’s unit at the rezoning site. The interim housing must not place any restrictions on the pets or the keeping of pets that were not included at the tenant’s unit at the rezoning site unless such restrictions are required by applicable law.” 

During the committee meeting, Coun. Alison Gu asked staff about the methods landlords will need to use to inform tenants of their ineligibility. 

“There are situations where a rezoning application is made, and then someone moves in before we even have the tenant meeting. At that time, the tenants receive a letter that outlines their eligibility,” said Claire Shepansky, tenant assistance planner with the city. “If, say, someone moves in a couple of years later, and that process has wrapped up, the tenant still should be getting that letter of ineligibility. So that’s what we want to clarify. Those eligibility letters aren’t just at the beginning. It should continue through the process, and the tenants should be receiving that. It should be communicated with them before they move in.” 

Gu also asked whether the city can do anything to prevent landlords from pressuring eligible tenants to move out in order to bring in new tenants who would be ineligible for assistance. 

“There is no circumstance to which we support them encouraging tenants to leave a building and have it re-tenanted. So usually, our intent is that it’s always the tenants’ request to move out early; they acknowledge that they wouldn’t receive the rent top-ups until the four-month notice,” Ed Kozak, general manager of planning and development said. “We’re trying to encourage as much as possible the tenant to stay in the building and then transition to that interim housing and receive those top-ups.” 

However, the proposed changes do not address the situation of tenants who have already moved into units after a rezoning application and were not informed of their ineligibility. The Beacon had spoken with several tenants who had moved into units shortly after a rezoning application was submitted. The landlord did not inform them of their ineligibility, and the development has been delayed for several years. 

“None of us were aware of this policy, and so we actually ended up making a group, the Dow Avenue tenants’ group, where we wanted to be heard and spread awareness about ​​the situation here in the Metrotown area, even amongst our own neighbours, because a lot of them also didn’t know that the building was going to be demolished,” said Jess Li, a tenant living in a building in Metrotown that will be demolished and redeveloped. 

Li and neighbour Marilou Villar had moved into their units after the rezoning application was submitted and the landlord informed neither of them of their TAP ineligibility. Both had spoken to council during a public hearing, but their situation remains unchanged. Similarly, the TAP still excludes tenants who are the roommates of other tenants if they are not on the lease.

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

Like what you just read? Do you support local journalism? Help us keep going—and growing.

Sign up for our once a week newsletter, or become an Insider to show your love for local reporters and writers.