The fact that British Columbia has both the highest housing prices and the highest average rents in Canada could be one of the many reasons why B.C. leads the country in evictions again, according to a new report.

Silas Xuereb, an independent researcher, and Craig Jones, associate director of UBC Housing Research Collaborative, say these conditions give landlords B次元官网网址渋ncreased incentives to evict tenants so that they can raise rents or sell properties for a profit.B次元官网网址�

Jones later added in a follow up interview that B.C. has a significantly higher eviction rate than any other province except PEI (with the difference not being statistically significant), because B.C. has a higher no-fault eviction rate.

About 10.5 per cent of renting households in British Columbia told the 2021 Canadian Housing Survey that their landlords forced them to move between April 2016 to early 2021, compared to 5.9 per cent nationally.

The vast majority of those of evictions B次元官网网址� 85 per cent B次元官网网址� qualify as no-fault evictions. They happen when landlords claim properties for their own use, sell them, demolish them, convert them or repair them. Nationally, just under 65 per cent of evictions qualify as no-fault evictions.

Jones said he does not know what causes the high frequency of no-fault evictions in B.C., but acknowledged that market conditions incentivize landlords.

According to Xuereb and Jones, average housing prices are nearly $300,000 higher than the national average and monthly rents are $500 above the national average, providing increased incentives for landlords to evict tenants to raise rents or sell the property.

B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 one potential reason, one potential reason among many potential reasons,B次元官网网址� Jones said.

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Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area has CanadaB次元官网网址檚 highest eviction rate at 10.4 per cent and similar eviction rates in Vancouver and B.C. as a whole B次元官网网址渋ndicate that high eviction rates are a problem throughout British Columbia, not only in Vancouver.B次元官网网址�

The most common reason reported for no-fault evictions nationally was the sale of properties with one-third of all evictions, followed by landlords wanting the property for personal use or their immediate familyB次元官网网址檚 use at 25 per cent.

Almost 80 per cent of tenant households have either private individuals or companies as landlords, with co-ops, non-profit organizations, governments, relatives and employers owning the rest.

While it is not clear under which ownership arrangements most no-fault evictions happen, the authors point out that B次元官网网址減rivate landlords are more likely than non-profit and co-operative landlords to be profit-motivated and sell properties that have inflated in value.B次元官网网址�

On the other hand, the report concludes that B次元官网网址渞ates of eviction are lower in social and affordable housing, non- profit, and co-op housing, showing that non-market housing can be effective at protecting tenants from evictions.B次元官网网址�

Specifically, it finds that just over four per cent of tenants in social housing faced eviction in the past five years compared with six per cent of tenants in private housing.

Does this mean that government should encourage more non-profit housing? Jones said the research itself does not speak to that point, but he describes himself as a B次元官网网址渂ig proponentB次元官网网址� of non-market housing and purpose-built rental housing.

Xuereb and Jones also find that the odds of eviction are 1.7 times higher for Indigenous renters.

B次元官网网址淗igh eviction rates for Indigenous renters may be caused by a wide range of factors but there is no doubt that discrimination against Indigenous people exists in the rental market in Canada,B次元官网网址� they write.

Premier David Eby framed the findings as evidence of pressure on the provincial housing stock with demand exceeding supply.

B次元官网网址淎 lot of this pressure falls on tennants,B次元官网网址� Eby said Monday. B次元官网网址淚n some cases, landlords are willing to bend or break the rules in order to remove a tenant in order to be able to avoid rent controls and raise the rent. We put in place a 12-month-rent penalty for a landlord that engages in that behaviour, that they have to pay to the tenant.

B次元官网网址淲e are constantly monitoring and if we need to take additional steps to ensure tenants are protected, we will do so.B次元官网网址�

wolfgang.depner@blackpress.ca
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