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Last residents of Vancouver's Little Mountain wait for an outcome

The last tenants of Little Mountain Housing Complex will appeal their eviction notices, a small crowd gathered outside the single remaining residence heard yesterday.

Members of three of four remaining tenant households -- Sammy and Joan Chang, Karin Nicholetti, and Ingrid Steenhuisen -- answered questions regarding their appeal of eviction notices served for Oct. 1.

In 2009, over 700 low-income people living in the 234 units within Little Mountain moved from the property to other social housing within the Greater Vancouver Regional District, in anticipation of a redevelopment agreement made between the City of Vancouver, the B.C. government and The Holborn Group (a Vancouver-based real-estate development group).

Later in 2009, the housing units were (all but one) demolished. To date, construction on the new development, originally scheduled for completion by 2010, has not begun.

"A few weeks ago, these last four families received their eviction notices from BC Housing," David Chudnovsky, former MLA for Vancouver Kensington, told the crowd. "Their contention is that there is absolutely no reason why they should have to leave, even if the redevelopment of Little Mountain goes ahead. There's no reason why social housing can't be built on a far corner of the lot and these people can stay and move into their units when they are built."

Holborn, as the proposed developer, has planned the redevelopment in phases. The City of Vancouver maintains the implementation of social housing must take place in the first phase.

Chudnovsky read a message sent from Ben Johnson, a senior officer of Vancouver's Planning department: "A development this complex would likely take 12 months of public hearings, assuming that the developer's plans are within the boundaries of the City's policy statement; following that is six months of enactment. If it's concurrent, the project could have shovels in the ground by 2014."

"Why are they being forced to leave now?" Chudnovsky concluded.

The tenants say health concerns prevent them from leaving their homes. Ingrid Steenhuisen has issues with mobility and is providing home care for her aged mother. Sammy and Joan Chang are both blind, and Sammy has eye surgery scheduled two days before the eviction. His surgery may restore partial vision and was scheduled months ago. He will need three months to recover.

"We have a crisis in social housing in this city," former COPE Vancouver city councillor Ellen Woodsworth said. "This is outrageous that these last few tenants who need to stay here [at Little Mountain Housing] are being forced out and are only given an impersonal hearing to voice their appeal."

A telephone appeal hearing was scheduled today at 10 a.m. The residents made a first appeal to the Residential Tenancy Board to have the hearing rescheduled for an in-person hearing, contending that a telephone hearing presented further challenges concerning the number of tenants involved.

That request was granted, and Chudnovsky and the last tenants of Little Mountain await a new date for their appeal.

Andrea Hoff is a freelance writer and illustrator based in Vancouver. Her writing on social housing is included in the book Future Social, published by Simply Read Books 2012.

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