BC Housing: An Insiders View
Shocked and dismayed , recently having received a terminal disease diagnosis, I challenged the ‘without cause’ dismissal and eviction, eventually receiving a monetary settlement from GVRD. I then turned to the BC Housing Registry and made an application for disability housing.
Having called in every 6 months as required to keep my housing application current, I patiently waited and waited for years. As I waited I reviewed the apartments operated by BC Housing and recognized my grandparents former building! Sunnyside Manor, in West Vancouver, built solidly in concrete, this place held many happy memories of dinners at our Babushka’s while our single mom pursued graduate studies at night after her day of teaching high school on the Northshore.
I decided to stop by and have a look at how the old place was doing. Covid was past it’s peak and people were starting to move about. At Sunnyside this was not evident. There were outdated warning signs and incorrect health protocol instructions posted by BC Housing on the windows and doors. Furniture in the lobby was upturned to prevent use and yellow caution tape was wrapped haphazardly between upside-down chairs and couches. Interestingly I noticed the intercom directory was missing many unit numbers and names. It appeared to be about 18 units short. I was curious as to why in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of a housing crisis, there appeared to be unoccupied units.
I took a picture of the directory and looked up some of the names on canada 411. I called several of the numbers and talked with the people who were currently living in the building. I asked them general questions about the quality of building management and overall conditions. I learned the longtime resident caretaker had left and had not been replaced. I learned that lightbulbs were often burnout for extended periods, one was out for over 2 years! I also made a friend and was invited into the building to have tea with her. She has lived in the building for 23 years and had recently had hip replacement surgery after tripping on her worn out and lumpy carpet which had been in her place for over 23 years!!
This would delay the request for years as the backlog is considerable with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. As It turned out their denial of my request gave me the incentive to look for other sources of information. I made FOI’s to the fire department for the last 10 years of annual inspections, (9 failures in 10 years) , I made an FOI to the district of west van for building permits, there were none in the winter of 2021. I was told by the building department that any permit would take at least 6 months from application to issuance. Nothing was currently going on. When I requested a list of the proposed scope of work at Sunnyside BC Housing denied it from me for “ business’ reasons. It was obvious that BC Housing was not a transparent and accountable organization. In fact their actions towards me later on bordered on malfeasanse of public office. Look it up! It’s a thing!
Whenever I was in Vancouver for my healthcare I would bring a sweet treat to my friends place at Sunnyside and have tea and talk about life. She was kind and sympathetic to my pursuit of housing and even wrote the BC Housing CEO Shayne Ramsay, on my behalf. He was dismissed shortly afterwards so there was no followup.
One day I visited her and because I was early I went for a walk around the property. When I got to the back laneway, two women were talking and getting into their vehicles which were parked in BC Housing Staff stalls. I asked them if they were employees and they hesitated answering me but eventually said I should contact their manager for more information. I had asked them if they were employees because in all my previous visits I had never seen any sign of staff. I returned to my car to wait the 15 minutes left until my tea time when a police car came up behind my parked car and turned it’s lights on.
A man dressed in civilian clothes came up to my window and asked for my license and registration. I asked him why and he said he was a cop and there was a complaint of criminal harassment against me from BC Housing. Fortunately I had recorded the audio of my recent conversation and there was no way it could be construed as anything but civil and courteous. After detaining me for over 30 minutes he left me alone and I went and had tea. My friend mentioned seeing the police at my car and I was never invited back. Sad. I do call her occasionally. Shame on you BC Housing for wrecking a budding friendship.
I eventually had a drone fly the outside of the building and discovered over 12 empty apartments. Renovations started 3 years later and are on-going. There are frequent days with little or no activity on site. It’s a slow process.
Eight years after first signing up on the BC Housing Registry, I was interviewed and told a place may become available. Months later I was rented a tiny one room studio and my little dog and I moved in to a building in the DTES of Vancouver. With Provincial clawbacks from my disability pension and my rent, I pay over $1200 for 225sq ft.
Immediately there was a huge problem for my damaged lungs as the building is filled with people who smoke an array of combustibles including weed, rock, meth and tobacco. There is no ventilation and many keep their doors ajar filling the common areas with smoke and fumes. I had informed BC Housing I was a non smoker but it appears to have fallen on deaf ears. I’m doing my best to mitigate the toxic air with creative ducting and fan placement as well as running the bathroom exhaust fan continuously. I’ve written letters asking for help, with letters of support from a doctor and a registered nurse who are friends and have witnessed the unhealthy conditions in my home, and I have not heard back anything for months. That’s my experience with BC Housing, what’s yours?
