Resistance to demovictions in Metrotown is expected to escalate later this month, as a housing activist says tenants of some buildings slated for demolition may refuse to leave after their eviction date has passed.
Burnaby group Alliance Against Displacement is working on a “We Won’t Go” campaign, according to an April blog post by organizer Zoe Luba in The Volcano, a publication connected with the activist group.
Luba told the NOW action is expected to escalate toward the end of June when residents of three buildings on Sussex Avenue in Metrotown, and one on Telford Avenue are evicted. Some residents may choose not to leave, she said.
Tom Hassan Aravi, a tenant of one of these properties who has been evicted, at 6508 Telford Ave., told the NOW this week about adverse living conditions at his building. At $1060 a month, he said he has more than he’s bargained for in his one-bedroom unit, including mice, fleas, a collapsed ceilings, no heat (there are space heaters), and no mail.
Housing activists say that this situation accounts to “eviction by conditions,” where tenants are pushed out to escape an adverse living situation when landlords fail to make adequate repairs.
Property owner Alex Zhang of Westland International Investment said tenants had been evicted in order to make repairs to the building, which he admitted was “in fairly bad condition.” Other tenants have been evicted for non-payment of rent, he said.
