Over 10 per cent of renters in B.C. report being evicted.
A new study out of the University of British Columbia finds the amount of evictions that take place in B.C. is far higher than in other provinces by sa国际传媒渁lmost four percentage points.sa国际传媒�
sa国际传媒淲hen that number came outsa国际传媒� I was very surprised,sa国际传媒� said researcher Craig Jones. sa国际传媒淚 knew that was going to be the key finding of the work that we were doing.sa国际传媒�
The Sept. 2021 study is called . It looks at data collected in 2018 from the Community Housing Survey to determine the extent of evictions and to compare them between provinces.
sa国际传媒滻n that survey, they asked people a lot of really interesting questions that to our knowledge werensa国际传媒檛 really being asked,sa国际传媒� Jones said, adding that before the survey, sa国际传媒渢here really was no way to compare that experience in B.Csa国际传媒� to the rest of the country. Now at least wesa国际传媒檝e got the beginning of an evidence base in this.sa国际传媒�
According to the study, 10.6 per cent of renters in British Columbia reported at the time being evicted within the past five years, sa国际传媒渕ore than any other province or territory whereas less than four per cent of renters were evicted within five years in Manitoba, Qu茅bec, and Nunavut.sa国际传媒�
sa国际传媒淎fter controlling for other sociodemographic characteristics, being aged 45-54, living in British Columbia and having a shelter cost to income ratio above 50 per cent are risk factors for eviction,sa国际传媒� it continued.
The survey also concluded that people who are evicted have lower self-reported levels of health and mental health, as well as lower levels of life satisfaction and increased financial difficulty.
The way evictions work in B.C. is different than in other jurisdictions. Most of the time, landlords have to file a legal request to begin the eviction process. In B.C., the landlord just has to serve a notice to the tenant.
sa国际传媒淏ecause of that, there is a ton of cases where tenants may receive notices and then choose to move out and we wouldnsa国际传媒檛 know how many those are,sa国际传媒� said Robert Patterson, a lawyer with the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre (TRAC). sa国际传媒淎t some point in most other jurisdictions, somebody in a position of power or decision making authority has to look at an eviction and say sa国际传媒榳ell this makes sensesa国际传媒� or sa国际传媒榯his doesnsa国际传媒檛 make sense.sa国际传媒� It meets the legal requirements or it doesnsa国际传媒檛. In B.C., our system doesnsa国际传媒檛 actually require anyone to do that.sa国际传媒�
Since many evictions do not get reported in B.C., the information from the survey provides a more accurate eviction rate, which could inform future policy.
One such route could be to change how landlords can evict tenants for sa国际传媒渓andlordsa国际传媒檚 own use,sa国际传媒� which are when the landlord wants to use the property themselves. A recent change to sa国际传媒渞enovictionsa国际传媒� rules could be an inspiration, Patterson says.
sa国际传媒淭he change that was made this summer is now that if a landlord wants to do thatsa国际传媒� They have to be the ones who pay the filing fee and begin the legal process and puts their evidence on the table first so the tenants can see what is actually going on,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淥ne of the ways we can tell itsa国际传媒檚 been successful is that we can see a massive uptick in clearly bad faith evictions of other kinds, especially the two month notice for landlord use, where they say theysa国际传媒檙e moving in.sa国际传媒�
Not all evictions are in bad faith, but Patterson says that sa国际传媒渞equiring landlordssa国际传媒� to begin the process with the Rental Tenancy Board, to file and provide their evidence first would be incredibly helpful in cutting down those bad faith evictions.sa国际传媒�
Some policy changes have already taken place since this data was collected. However, the pandemic, which started after the 2018 Community Housing Survey, has also had an effect.
sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檝e seen a 20-25 per cent increase in people contacting TRAC for all sorts of reasons since the beginning of the pandemic. The number one issue has always remained evictions,sa国际传媒� Patterson said. sa国际传媒淚t also just caused more stress on all the parties, which led to more conflict, tension and therefore evictions. Theresa国际传媒檚 been a huge demand.sa国际传媒�
Another Canadian Housing Survey was conducted earlier this year, and Jones and his team plan to do a similar study of the data when it is available.
sa国际传媒淎s far as I know, we didnsa国际传媒檛 have any way of estimating what renter eviction rates are across the country,sa国际传媒� Jones said. sa国际传媒淲e didnsa国际传媒檛 know how the different provinces and territories compared to each other. The fact that B.C. has a pretty high eviction rate compared to the other provinces, and that difference is statistically significant.sa国际传媒�
sa国际传媒淚 really hope this study brings more attention to how this process works and how many people are getting evicted,sa国际传媒� Patterson said. sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 pretty crazy.sa国际传媒�
The full study is available .
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