A document obtained by the Burnaby NOW through a Freedom of Information request reveals developer Intracorp Homes paid a total of $439,024 to 48 households evicted from 6525 Telford St. in Metrotown.
Intracorp demolished the lowrise apartment building to make way for a 37-storey condo tower and a six-storey affordable rental building next door.
That building, now 6521 Telford St., includes homes for the displaced tenants at the rate they previously paid (plus annual allowed increases).
Two of the Telford renters were among the first to receive money under Burnaby’s updated tenant assistance policy, or “TAP,” which has been heralded as the best renter protections in Canada.
Developers are required to provide the details of the financial compensation packages in a final tenant assistance report, submitted to the city one month after tenants move back into their replacement units.
The report details the compensation amounts provided, whether tenants accepted replacement units and the relocation status of eligible tenants.
The two renters who were eligible for the updated tenant assistance received a lump-sum payment based on a set formula, according to city spokesperson Chris Bryan.
The rest of the eligible tenants took a compensation package under an older version of the TAP, which required developers to pay tenants at least three months’ rent.
Intracorp provided more financial compensation than the 2018 policy required and reported it calculated the compensation based on the length of tenancy or the equivalent of three months’ rent, whichever was higher, “in order to provide greater support to long-term tenants,” according to Bryan.
How much did tenants get?
Households evicted from Telford received a range of compensation between $3,960 and $25,900, according to the report. The median compensation was $7,800.
The two lump-sum payments offered under the updated 2020 version of the TAP were calculated based on a set formula: one household received $25,900 and the other $18,882 (both included moving costs). One of those households moved into a replacement unit and the other did not.
The only household that received as much compensation through the 2018 policy as the 2020 lump sum was a renter who received $22,500. That renter died and did not take the replacement unit.
The next highest compensation package was for $17,600 for a two-bedroom household.
When the Telford renters moved out in 2019, their rents ranged from $650 to $1,614. The median rent was $840.
More than a third of the eligible households declined to move into the new replacement apartments.
The tenants’ reasons for declining replacement units were redacted from the document by the city for privacy.
The details
The Telford redevelopment and rezoning, which had been submitted before the new TAP was approved, was contingent on Intracorp meeting updated Burnaby rental policies.
Telford tenants who had already received financial compensation under the 2018 TAP were not eligible for the new and improved 2020 TAP, but they were eligible for replacement units that would not have been offered previously.
The tenants who were not compensated under the 2018 policy were required to be covered by the 2020 TAP. (Those two households received the lump sum.)
While 49 households were eligible to move in, out of 54 units in the old rental building, Bryan said there was no contact information for one of the eligible households and they were not able be contacted, which is why they did not appear on the final tenant assistance report. The report includes information for 48 households.
A press release from the city in May announcing the renters returning to Telford stated 32 renters would return to the new building, but after the release was published, a tenant decided not to accept the offer and did not sign a tenancy agreement, according to Bryan.
The final tenant assistance report does not account for the five units ineligible for replacement units.
Burnaby’s updated 2020 and 2022 versions of the TAP now require developers to help pay for tenants’ interim housing while their new replacement rentals are under construction, including rent top-ups to bridge the gap between current rents and market rents. Tenants can alternatively opt for the lump-sum payment in the interim period, based on a set calculation.
READ THE TELFORD FINAL TENANT ASSISTANCE REPORT HERE
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