Renter Office motion rejected

Vancouver city councillor Lucy Maloney’s motion to bring back the Renter Office was voted down.

A coalition of renter advocacy groups say they supported the idea.

Owen Brady is the director at the non-profit Abundant Housing Vancouver. He is disappointed in the city council’s decision.

He says the motion was mainly about the city meeting its commitment to renters.

He hopes the city will still meet the same commitments by other means.

“To help renters navigate the city’s various processes, whether it be standards of maintenance […],” he explained in an interview with 1130 NewsRadio.

Jennifer Bradshawis, a director at the same non-profit, thinks the Renter Office is important because renovations are common in Vancouver.

“We strongly believe that the Renter Office would help promote more safe and secure rental housing across Vancouver,” Bradshaw said.

“We just really wanted to make sure that it is coordinated, that is accessible for renters and communicated well to tenants,” said Brady.”It is critical that we keep building.”

Even though there has been some downward pressure on rents lately, driven by economic insecurities and tariffs, there are concerns rents will go up in the future. “People are just as worse off as they were before.” “This is not the improvement of affordability we want to see,” he says.

The Renter Office was created in 2018 to provide information and resources to tenants.

In 2023, however, ABC Vancouver voted to defund the office, despite city staff recommending that the service be continued.

The party around Mayor Ken Sim argued that they would increase grants to other non-profit groups serving renters by $250,000.

Bradshaw says renters have little representation at City Hall. She would therefore welcome the return of the Renter Office.

“Our renters should be represented more, especially on the municipal level, where we historically see so much more participation in public hearings, and of course, in voting,” she explained.

Bradshaw also notes that homeowners are overrepresented in municipal decision-making processes compared to renters.

According to city staff, the Renter Office has cost about $1.8 million in its three years of existence.

— With files from Raynaldo Suarez.