Will Barrocan who has lived in the apartment for more than 23 years fears losing his place. (PCN Photo)
Updated: July 27, 2006, 8 AM
2nd Updated: July 27, 2006, 5:12 PM
Vancouver, B.C.
Tenants oppose demoviction
Teodoro ‘Ted’ Alcuitas
Editor, Philippine Canadian News
“I was devastated,” says tenant Will Barrocan when he learned that they were to be evicted from his apartment after 24 years.
“I spent sleepless nights thinking what will happen to us – where will we live?Can we afford it?”
Barrocan is one of 10 Filipinos tenants who live at 75 East 8th Ave. in Mount Pleasant in Vancouver, in a four-story walk-up apartment built in the 1960s. The building is one block form Main St. near the future Mount Pleasant Sky Train station and minutes away from the controversial proposed Filipino Cultural Centre on Main St.
The building is slated for demolition to give way to a 21-storey hotel proposed by Nicola Wealth and Lotus Capital. The rezoning process has begun and residents have formed the Myron Manor Collective through the guidance and support of the Vancouver Tenant’s Union to oppose the rezoning.
“Parang inipit ako sa lupa at langit – laments Barrocan who arrived in Canada in 1991 with his siblings and mother. They came under the sponsorship of an older sister who arrived in Canada first. He had lived in different apartments since until he finally settled in 75 East.
He says the estimated compensation of $14,000 for him will not last 10 months at the going rate of a one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver.
Displaced residents face “demoviction” without a right to return, sparking major pushback against city rezoning policies.
Developers Nicola Wealth Real Estate and Lotus Capital Corp applied to rezone the property to build a 21-storey, 190-unit extended-stay “tech hotel” aimed at remote workers and digital nomads.
Because the project is classed as a hotel under the Broadway Plan, it bypasses standard tenant relocation rules, meaning current residents get no right to move back into the new structure.
Protests and Public Hearings: Tenants and labor groups like the Vancouver Tenants Union have staged public rallies, protested at corporate events, and spoken out at city council public hearings.
Activists argue the city faces a severe long-term housing affordability crisis rather than a hotel shortage, and that exploiting industrial-land hotel policies displaces vulnerable residents for luxury developer profits.
Activists have appeared and spoke at City Hall hearings and held public rallies since the controversy started and have generated extensive media coverage. Close to 300 speakers have registered to oppose the plan and continues to grow.
Proponents of the 21-story hotel complex aimed as a 190-unit extended stay “tech hotel” seek to meet the needs of remote workers and “digital nomads”. But given the extended stay hotel model, it remains a question how many hotel jobs would be produced. Moreover, application for the proposal exploited a loophole in the Broadway Plan bypassing standard relocation rules because it is classed as a “hotel” which means roughly 40 residents get no right to move back into the new structure.