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 91裸聊视频渁lmost four percentage points.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淲hen that number came out91裸聊视频� I was very surprised,91裸聊视频� said researcher Craig Jones. 91裸聊视频淚 knew that was going to be the key finding of the work that we were doing.91裸聊视频�

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.

91裸聊视频滻n that survey, they asked people a lot of really interesting questions that to our knowledge weren91裸聊视频檛 really being asked,91裸聊视频� Jones said, adding that before the survey, 91裸聊视频渢here really was no way to compare that experience in B.C91裸聊视频� to the rest of the country. Now at least we91裸聊视频檝e got the beginning of an evidence base in this.91裸聊视频�

According to the study, 10.6 per cent of renters in British Columbia reported at the time being evicted within the past five years, 91裸聊视频渕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.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淎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,91裸聊视频� 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.

91裸聊视频淏ecause of that, there is a ton of cases where tenants may receive notices and then choose to move out and we wouldn91裸聊视频檛 know how many those are,91裸聊视频� said Robert Patterson, a lawyer with the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre (TRAC). 91裸聊视频淎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 91裸聊视频榳ell this makes sense91裸聊视频� or 91裸聊视频榯his doesn91裸聊视频檛 make sense.91裸聊视频� It meets the legal requirements or it doesn91裸聊视频檛. In B.C., our system doesn91裸聊视频檛 actually require anyone to do that.91裸聊视频�

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 91裸聊视频渓andlord91裸聊视频檚 own use,91裸聊视频� which are when the landlord wants to use the property themselves. A recent change to 91裸聊视频渞enoviction91裸聊视频� rules could be an inspiration, Patterson says.

91裸聊视频淭he change that was made this summer is now that if a landlord wants to do that91裸聊视频� 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,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淥ne of the ways we can tell it91裸聊视频檚 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 they91裸聊视频檙e moving in.91裸聊视频�

Not all evictions are in bad faith, but Patterson says that 91裸聊视频渞equiring landlords91裸聊视频� 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.91裸聊视频�

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.

91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檝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,91裸聊视频� Patterson said. 91裸聊视频淚t also just caused more stress on all the parties, which led to more conflict, tension and therefore evictions. There91裸聊视频檚 been a huge demand.91裸聊视频�

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.

91裸聊视频淎s far as I know, we didn91裸聊视频檛 have any way of estimating what renter eviction rates are across the country,91裸聊视频� Jones said. 91裸聊视频淲e didn91裸聊视频檛 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.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淚 really hope this study brings more attention to how this process works and how many people are getting evicted,91裸聊视频� Patterson said. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 pretty crazy.91裸聊视频�

The full study is available .

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