Motion to bring back Vancouver renter office defeated in tie vote

A motion to bring back Vancouver’s renter office was defeated Wednesday in a tie vote.

A Vancouver city councillor’s push to restore the city’s tenant advocacy office — and crack down on bad-faith landlords — was voted down by council Wednesday afternoon.

Coun. Lucy Maloney, who was elected in April’s byelection on a platform focused on housing rights, brought forward the motion, arguing the city must do more to support renters — particularly those displaced by redevelopment tied to the Broadway Plan.

“Renters don’t feel like the city has their backs,” said Maloney. “They don’t feel like they’re being listened to.”

The tenant advocacy office was a city-run service that provided support and resources to renters. It was shut down in 2023 by the ABC-majority council.

Coun. Peter Meiszner defended the decision to close the office, citing low usage.

“They were receiving less than one call a day,” he said. “So what we decided to do at the time, was to transition the funding for that city renters office to a non-profit that can handle those inquiries more effectively.”

Funding was redirected to the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre, and Meiszner also pointed to the provincial Residential Tenancy Branch as the appropriate channel for dealing with landlord-tenant disputes.

Maloney argued the city should provide additional protections beyond the province’s scope, particularly in areas impacted by the Broadway Plan, where many renters are expected to be displaced through the city’s Temporary Relocation and Protection Policy.

“We’re going to have increasing volumes of people being moved out of their homes as the Broadway Plan progresses,” said Maloney. “We need to make sure that we’re focused, that we’ve got the resourcing and staff needed.”

Meiszner responded that existing city staff are already working to support renters through these transitions.

“So we’re building thousands of new rental units in the Broadway corridor, and there are some tenant relocations that need to happen,” he said. “But we have staff already within the city working on that.”

In addition to reinstating the advocacy office, Maloney’s motion also called for exploring stronger penalties for landlords and developers who act in bad faith.

Ultimately, the motion was narrowly defeated in a tie vote, with the four present ABC councillors voting against the motion.

After the vote, Maloney said she will continue to fight for Vancouver renters, vowing to one day bring the tenant advocacy office back to city hall.

A separate motion by Coun. Sean Orr — declaring housing as a human right — was passed unanimously.