Residents at Coquitlam’s Hoy Creek Housing Co-op fear they will soon be evicted after receiving notice last week that rental subsidies will no longer be available after July 1 — and that could mean massive rent increases for some.
Bobbi Style, a 12-year tenant who was born with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, told The Tri-City News that without the subsidy, he is bracing to pay $1,100 per month instead of the current $350. The higher cost is more than he receives in monthly disability payments and he said there is not enough time to make alternate arrangements for his accommodation before the end of June.
“How the hell am I going to pay that?” he said. “I’m not — and they know it.”
Style is one of 35 residents in the 97-unit housing complex, located at Johnson Street and Guildford Way, who receives a subsidy through an operating agreement between the Hoy Creek Housing Co-op and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). On June 7, a letter from the co-op’s property management company was slipped under his door stating that the agreement expires at the end of the month.
“There is such little notice,” Style said. “Nobody will be able to scramble to meet that. On July 1, everybody will be defaulting on their rent.”
Anna Distl, another resident in the building, said the end of the operating agreement will have ramifications for the entire housing complex.
She does not receive a subsidy but worries that the co-op could end if all of the subsidized tenants are forced to move out.
“We’re screwed,” she said. “We are between a rock and a hard place. It is very stressful.”
Hoy Creek Housing Co-op has struggled financially in recent years and is currently in receivership after defaulting on its mortgage with CMHC.
Last summer, then co-op president Hugh Tait told The Tri-City News the organization could not pay its bills after determining that 60 townhouse units on the property were uninhabitable due to mould, rot and bad plumbing.
Without the rents from those units, which are currently in the process of being demolished, Tait said the co-op could not pay its full mortgage. Tait has since been removed as the volunteer president of the co-op.
In last week’s letter to tenants, Terra Property Management stated that residents currently receiving a subsidy “will be expected to pay the full housing charge as of July 1.”
The letter directs people to consider applying for other subsidies through the provincial Shelter Aid for Elderly Residents (SAFER) or the Rental Assistance Program (RAP) but acknowledges that those applications take two to three months to process, leaving residents on the hook for higher rents in the meantime.
Receiving assistance from RAP and SAFER also requires that applicants give up their co-op membership and become regular renters, an arrangement that concerns Style.
“The second we become renters, we have no rights,” he said, later adding, “It’s the oldest trick in the book. They are after the land.”
Glenne Manlig, a general manager with Terra Property Management, said the reason tenants were only informed of the changes last week is because the co-op is in discussions with CMHC about extending the operating agreement “for those most vulnerable folks.”
But as the July 1 deadline loomed, “management was thinking we need to notify [tenants] because the federal government isn’t budging… We haven’t heard anything,” he said.
Manlig noted that several other co-ops his company manages have been successful in getting extensions from CMHC but, unlike Hoy Creek, those buildings were not in receivership.
He also took issue with the notion put forward by Style that the management company was trying to pressure residents to give up their co-op memberships.
Manlig said the letter was simply meant to inform tenants that SAFER and RAP assistance, which requires a person to have a regular tenancy agreement, is available. Applying for that help is entirely voluntary, he added, and management is not trying to coerce anyone.
“We tried to make an emphasis that this is an optional thing — another option for you to find subsidies,” he said.
The Tri-City News contacted CMHC but the Crown corporation would not comment on whether it is open to extending the operating agreement with the Hoy Creek Housing Co-op. A spokesperson also refused to say what the long-term plans are for the Johnson Street property.
“As Hoy Creek is currently under a court-appointed receiver process, CMHC won’t be able to provide further comment,” media relations officer Audrey-Anny Coulombe said in an email.
But Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said his understanding from discussions with CMHC is that the corporation intends to develop a portion of the land and use the proceeds to fund subsidized housing on other parts of the site.
“That has been CMHC’s representation to me, and I take them at their word until I can’t,” he said.
He added that his office has been trying to contact CMHC to find out more information.
Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam Liberal MP Ron McKinnon’s office said it had not heard of any issues at Hoy Creek until contacted by The Tri-City News yesterday and would be investigating the matter with CMHC.
gmckenna@tricitynews.com
@gmckennaTC
