VancouverMETRO VANCOUVER NEWS
Former tenant says she is still owed compensation under Broadway plan protections
Keely Ryan says she has not received four months’ rent and $750 for moving after leaving a Vancouver building slated for redevelopment. The landlord says no development plans are in place, while the City says its compensation obligations remain.
When Vancouver approved the Broadway Plan, it included stronger protections for renters who have to move. Former tenant Keely Ryan is questioning whether those protections are working: she says she is still waiting for compensation from her landlord.
Ryan lived at 1364 West 11th Avenue from late 2023 until March of last year. When she moved out, she says the City of Vancouver told her she was eligible for compensation from the building’s owner under the Tenant Relocation and Protection Policy. The building was proposed for redevelopment, and city council approved CCI Trading Group’s application after a public hearing last year.
Ryan told CTV News on Tuesday outside the building that she was supposed to receive four months’ rent for the time she lived there, plus $750 for movers. “They didn’t do that,” she said. Ryan says the City told her that moving out before receiving an eviction notice did not affect her eligibility, which is based on how long she lived in the building. She shared emails with CTV News that she says confirm her eligibility.
The building is within the Broadway Plan area, which aims to increase density along Broadway and in surrounding areas over the coming years. The Vancouver Tenants Union says the protections in the policy do not go far enough and that enforcement has been a problem. Michael Cook of the union’s Mount Pleasant branch told CTV News that elected representatives are allowing corporate landlords to decide how the protections are administered. Cook said his own family also faces eviction as part of the Broadway Plan.
With tens of thousands of renters at risk of displacement as the area is densified, Ryan worries the plan is not working as advertised. She said she is speaking out to raise awareness of what is happening and the number of people who could be affected.
Ryan’s former landlord told her it understood that compensation is payable after a development permit is issued. In response to CTV News, CCI Trading Group said it had told Ryan there were no development plans for the project when she moved out and encouraged her to stay. The company said she chose to leave after finding another unit that offered better value, and that there are currently no development plans for the project.
The City says CCI has not withdrawn its development application for 1364 West 11th Avenue and confirms that its tenant compensation obligations remain in place.