Recommendation 13: Change government definitions of social housing and affordable housing to mean rates that are affordable to people on social assistance, and rents that are income-geared not market-geared.

Legislative reform to reduce Indigenous women’s manufactured vulnerability

Recommendation 14: Amend the provincial Residential Tenancy Act to cover all housing and to strengthen tenants rights. Amend the provincial Human Rights Code and Residential Tenancy Act to make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of social condition including health status and drug use.

Recommendations to guarantee economic security for Indigenous women in the DTES

Provincial income assistance

Recommendation 73: Eliminate the prohibition on accessing Rental Assistance Program (RAP) and Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER) housing subsidies for people on income and disability assistance.

Recommendations for safe and affordable housing for Indigenous women in the DTES

Recommendation 91: Change government definitions of social housing and affordable housing to mean rates that are affordable to people on social assistance, and rents that are income-geared not market-geared.

Recommendations for safe and affordable housing for Indigenous women in the DTES

Recommendation 94: Extend the provincial Shelter Allowance for Elderly Renters (SAFER) to housing charges in nonprofit cooperative housing, and extend SAFER grants to the amount of rent increases.

Recommendations for safe and affordable housing for Indigenous women in the DTES

Build social housing and transition homes

Recommendation 96: A minimum of 30 percent of all units funded by the current National Housing Strategy and the various Building BC Housing Funds must be designated to Indigenous women and families, and be operated by Indigenous housing providers.

Recommendations for safe and affordable housing for Indigenous women in the DTES

Build social housing and transition homes

Recommendation 97: Any new social housing must consider the needs of Indigenous women, such as adequate space for children and extended families, cooperative housing models, accommodating cultural and ceremonial practices, equipped for mobility devices and accessibility for elders, and with integrated services such as child care, free laundry, and programming on-site.

Recommendations for safe and affordable housing for Indigenous women in the DTES

Build social housing and transition homes

Recommendation 99: Provide Indigenous women with individualized options for housing that supports choice and self-determination. For example, women should have the option to live in or outside of the DTES, for abstinence-based or harm reduction-based buildings, for women-only or housing that includes men, for housing that is with or without increased security and guest rules.

Recommendations for safe and affordable housing for Indigenous women in the DTES

Legislative protections

Recommendation 103: The provincial Residential Tenancy Act needs to be amended as follows:

1. The Act must cover all housing, including residents of social housing, nonprofit SROs, supportive housing, and temporary modular housing. People living in supportive housing should not be subjected to restrictive rules that violate their basic tenancy rights.
2. The Act must tie rent to the unit, not the tenant, so landlords cannot renovict tenants to increase rents. The Act must also tie landlord rights to increase rent with obligations to maintain property and to comply with orders made by the Residential Tenancy Branch.
3. Extend the ‘right of first refusal’ to tenants to return at their renovated unit at the previously payable rent in order to prevent renovictions. Also extend right of first refusal to all tenants, not just those living in residential complexes of more than five units.
4. When evicting a tenant on grounds that the landlord or a close family member intends to move in, require the landlord to file a statutory declaration indicating their relationship to the family member and that they intend to occupy the unit for at least six months.
5. Extend the grace period for non-payment of rent to 20 days; eliminate the Direct Request Process for non-payment of rent; and allow arbitrators discretion to consider contextual factors and refuse an order of possession for failure to pay rent.
6. Provide tenants the right to a warning before getting an eviction notice for cause and require automatic dispute resolution hearings for all evictions, where landlords initiate eviction proceedings by applying with the Residential Tenancy Branch in order to receive a registered eviction notice and schedule a mandatory hearing.
7. Develop a property maintenance policy that outlines a breadth of health, safety, and security standards.
8. Create more robust enforcement mechanisms at the Residential Tenancy Branch to stop fraudulent evictions and to ensure landlords are adhering to maintenance obligations; amend criteria and lower the threshold for accepting investigation requests; increase the deadlines and expand the grounds for Review Consideration; and introduce a wider breadth of penalties that are imposed more often.

Recommendations for safe and affordable housing for Indigenous women in the DTES

Legislative protections

Recommendation 104: Landlords and property managers must be licensed and make licenses revocable in cases of significant misconduct.