River’s Edge update: Some concessions to residents, but the Revelstoke housing struggle continues

Back in June, while Revelstoke was in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, we ran this story, which highlighted the impacts of a problematic BC Housing renovation of the River’s Edge apartment building in Farwell.

This is an update on the situation, but for background, see this story:

River’s Edge: ‘Nightmare’ BC Housing-led renovation leaves residents exasperated

The story highlighted serious concerns and woes from residents living in the River’s Edge apartment building, which was purchased by BC Housing last year and is undergoing much needed renovations on the dilapidated building. Once complete, the plan is to create some kind of social housing for residents, but the exact plan has yet to be defined.

Our communication has continued with residents, mostly by email. They paint picture of some improvements, but still many outstanding concerns, and general disputes over whether the response to complaints has been adequate.

Rent break for residents

In a concession to the residents of the apartment complex, right as we published our first story about issues with the renovation, BC Housing offered a rent break of 30% for six months for existing tenants. For residents enduring a long list of woes, including loss of access to balconies, construction and dust debris, removal of hazardous materials like asbestos, and constant noise and disruptions, it seems like the least that could be done.

BC Housing also changed the hours of construction for the project, trimming off early morning hours that residents had complained about to cut noise disruption. However, lately, the hours have been ramped up again. BC Housing has said this is necessary to complete renovations by November, much longer than.

BC Housing announced it was increasing the cleaning schedule for the building — something that some residents said was happening, but other said wasn’t happening as often as was said.

The housing authority also put a notice on each of the doors in the building explaining changes. Residents had complained they were in limbo with what was happening with them, and hadn’t been told what was happening with their living arrangements. In press releases from BC Housing when the project was announced, the housing authority said residents wouldn’t be displaced from their homes.

Ongoing construction issues

Trying to list all of the past and ongoing complaints from the residents from before our first story and since would be a big task. There have been hundreds of emails. Although the cleaning schedule was ramped up, residents complained it was not enough, sending in photos of dirty areas. The parking garage finally got a working door, but residents had to pay $25 for a FOB deposit. New washing and drying machines were installed after complaints about broken or malfunctioning units.

The most recent complaint pointed to newly renovated balconies that were without railings during construction, a risk to kids in the building.

Most of the complaints were accompanied with back and forth communications with the property manager, Revelstoke Property Services (RPS), and are subject to dispute. RPS will say it’s responded to complaints, but residents disputed whether concerns were addressed adequately. It’s difficult to quantify the issues without being on site all day.

BC Housing

In August, BC Housing spokesperson Samantha Cacnio provided an update on the renovation. She said that BC Housing is waiting to select a non-profit housing provider for the building. She pointed to HousingHub as a good resource for those interested in finding solutions to the management issue.

Cacnio said there have been delays in the construction due to unanticipated issues with the building. “The roof has significant leaks and most of the balcony and decks were rotted and had not been maintained. Repairs to the roof are expected to be completed by the end of August while exterior building work is expected to be completed by the end of the end of October,” she said. Currently, they are targeting completion in November.
Work is ongoing to fix faulty balconies, extra sensor lighting is being installed behind the building, and a security consultant was hired to assess the building for intercom and security camera installation. (The intercom had been broken for some time.)

“The project experienced delays with getting trade materials to the site due to COVID-19,” Cacnio said.

Until the renovations are complete, BC Housing said it is not renting out the unoccupied units, which are being renovated.

No renovations to inhabited apartment units

The currently occupied apartment units aren’t being renovated. If existing residents want to move into one of the vacant units that are being renovated, they’ll need to sign a new lease, which will mean increased rent. A BC Housing representative said the provincial authority isn’t renting out the newly renovated vacant units until the renovation project is complete. (Residents pointed out that construction staff had been living in at least one unit.)

Residents say the lack of renovation in the units will remain an outstanding issue if they want to stay. The building had mold issues, and there is mold in some units that are not being renovated.

Revelstoke Property Services

Revelstoke Property Services representative Nico Leenders said a number of improvements are ongoing. RPS had a security consultant review the building, making recommendations on security issues. One of the complaints leveled by residents is drug dealing activity in the building. He said the security consultant would look at things like installing glass security doors so residents can see who is on the other side before they open them.

In general, Leenders said the renovation would bring needed improvements to the building for residents, and that living through a renovation means some disruption is inevitable. He said the company is being as responsive as possible to requests.

Opinion: Revelstoke’s housing crisis defines the community

I regularly get approached by residents seeking a story about tenant/landlord disputes, usually the tenant wanting to expose their landlord for what they feel are wrongs. Due to limited resources, I can’t get into these disputes. The situations can be a quagmire: lots of allegations of things that can’t be proven either way by someone who wasn’t there at the time.

This dispute is different because the new landlord is BC Housing, which is a new entrant to the housing scene in Revelstoke, having announced the purchase and renovation of Columbia Gardens and River’s Edge last year. Both buildings were privately owned and notorious for being in serious disrepair.

One of the first city reports that came across my desk when I arrived here was a housing report commissioned by the city. The report correctly predicted that Revelstoke was going to experience big issues with housing brought on by the development of Revelstoke Mountain Resort. We are not alone in these issues: they repeat themselves again and again in mountain resort towns — the same patterns and the same problems. In the years since, the situation has been compounded by skyrocketing housing costs in B.C., and lack of adequate action on the part of the municipality, which ultimately created the issue when it went down the resort development path.

Both BC Housing and the City of Revelstoke touted the announcement of the purchase and renovations of Columbia Gardens and River’s Edge, including assurances that people living in the buildings wouldn’t be displaced. The clearer picture today is that residents can remain in their rundown units and must endure a very disturbing renovation during the height of a pandemic, but if they want to benefit from a renovated unit, they’ll have to negotiate a new lease at unknown cost, with an unknown management scenario for their future. Their complaints during the construction process were sometimes lost in translation between bureaucrats who don’t live in town, contractors from out of town, and the property management company.

Housing discussions in Revelstoke often focus on planning, zoning, and construction, often in a room full of people who don’t have first-hand experience with housing insecurity. BC Housing’s entry into the Revelstoke housing issue was much needed, but is in part due to the municipality’s failure to address a housing crisis that their own reports told them was coming. At the time, a now inactive group known as Renter’s Voice was raising the alarm about renovictions and unsustainable housing, but these days, there’s little in the way of public activism to highlight issues faced by those suffering under high rents and unsustainable costs.

Senior Revelstoke municipal staff for years have resisted getting involved directly in housing, even though successful resort community responses to housing issues, such as the Whistler Housing Authority, are direct creations of the municipality that now operate essentially independently, and have been successful in bringing in cash for new builds from other levels of government. Revelstoke isn’t even putting in an application, nor is it coordinating in any meaningful way.

Lately, senior staff seem to be linking concessions drawn from developers, such as a room or two of staff housing at a new hotel, as being a victory for housing. Don’t believe it. These concessions are just one small part of a housing plan and don’t mistake them for anything more than that.

More than anything, we need a collective community gut check on the housing file. The COVID-19 world has opened a new window into the fragility of collective mental health, the ravages of illicit drug addiction in a province where the supply is poisoned, and the grinding inequality between the haves and have-nots in our society.

Revelstoke’s response to the housing issue will define us one way or the other. Thousands of residents live precariously, packed many to a home, worried about their future in the community when the lease expires or the owner decides to sell. Businesses already know the challenges of finding staff. Remote workers and urban migrants arrive every day, sometimes outcompeting those reliant on the local labour market to generate income. During the COVID-19 shutdown I took time to wander the community and hear some stories. I had a chance encounter with a family living out of a local motel. The father, the breadwinner, worked at a local sawmill. We’re in that territory already: first it was the minimum wage workers forced into precarious living situations, packed like sardines into single-family homes. Next up is the better paying blue-collar job, forced out by lack of attainable housing.

Another issue under the city’s control is illegal vacation rentals. Other municipalities, such as Whistler, have enacted bylaws that target advertising of illegal vacation rentals, following up with fines. It’s worked for them and solves the burden of proof issue: it’s actually hard to prosecute someone who is renting illegally because you need to provide proof of the specific offense. Targeting advertising can make it a desktop exercise and tech companies that do nothing other than subcontract this enforcement method exist. There has been no recent indication from the city whether they’re seeking to address the vacation rental issue in the near future.

It was good to see BC Housing get involved, but the problematic renovation at River’s Edge highlighted what we already know: a Revelstoke solution would be better, and BC Housing is ready to sign the projects over to new management, but still that hasn’t been defined by the municipality.

The way to make this right is come up with a housing plan now. In October of 2017, city council requested city staff present options for a housing plan, but it hasn’t come to council yet. The current council is nearly halfway through its term, and they are probably realizing right now that municipal business doesn’t move as fast as they’d thought. The plan with the two BC Housing renovations and the proposed new building next to Southside Market — enabled by the School District No. 19 sale of the property, not the city providing property — is to hand them over to some kind of a management structure, as yet undefined. Whatever that entity is, it can’t be a rabbit pulled from the hat at the last minute, and it must respect the basic human dignity and housing rights of the people who live in them. If it were a Revelstoke solution, it would go above and beyond that — creating something that residents are truly proud of, something that truly works for residents, including ownership models. It needs community consultation and buy in.

The renovations at Columbia Gardens and River’s Edge will upgrade the buildings and some of the units, but it doesn’t create new units — only replace ones lost to disrepair. The new building in Southside may get built, but will it be on terms that work for residents, or will it be housing linked to an employer, which is becoming increasingly common here as business owners buy up properties for staff housing? In the interim, three large hotel projects have been approved; all of them will require new staff who will need housing.

Even a perfectly executed housing plan will only have limited effect on the overall housing issue.

B.C. Community Housing Fund application will be a clear performance indicator for city staff and council

The need for affordable housing and housing planning has been a key civic issue in Revelstoke for years. In this story from June, we reported on a January 2021 deadline for community organizations to apply for funding through the $1.9 billion B.C. Community Housing Fund, the second round of funding available for housing projects. There were no applications from Revelstoke in the first round. For background, see this story:

Will Revelstoke apply for second round of $1.9-billion B.C. Community Housing Fund?

The city hasn’t communicated its housing plan to date, and there is no apparent public coordination of an applications from community groups, no discussion of what an appropriate community response is to this unique opportunity to make a dent in the issue by bringing many millions in building funding into the community.

We will follow up with the B.C. Community Housing Fund once the funding applications close in 2021 because it is a clear indicator of whether city staff and city council are serious about the housing issue in Revelstoke, a town where according to the city’s own housing study, 41.5 per cent of residents earn less than $30,000 per year.

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