8 oy
7° TENANTS"

Cont'd, from pg. 1

Dye ting 145,000 federal em-
bene end the Canadian Railway
blasting ot have made statements
attPanies a. and the grain

Ver;

Fey Reet pedon based on the
Ven x
While rep oMPany spokesmen,

Pity ain to budge from their
ite a He Wage increases would
ithitted lonary”, have timidly
Hement ig rot a legislated set-
mpan, (te only possibility. One
“ing “Ctticial was quoted as
ill Ve ty PPose the industry
| Nifeg 4.0 Stand any agreement
Wn its throat.”
that ke 4 companies assertion
Moun erry Report would
Vearg,.. - 61% increase over two
trom tye cOMe under fire not only
Vern but from the federal

th :
Taeset® Public Service Alliance, ~

and calling for.

senator Ray Perrault said the
grain companies are acting like
“Horatio at the Bridge” and
engaging in “blatant politics”. The
federal government has said the
increase is in the order of 45%, but
Kanes says that neither have any
basis in fact. “Taking all the fringe
benefits as well as the wage I~
creases it will mean only a 38%
increase,” he said.

Despite the lockout, however, the
GWU has made arrangements with
the Longshoremen’s Union to move
wheat from Neptune terminals to
India and Bangladesh, both

icken by famine. :
on a Peete of legislating
workers back to work at the first
plea from employers, Munro 1s
understandably at a loss to explain
the government’s inaction when
the action required would favor the
workers. As it appears now, sooner
or later the government will have

to act.

The British Columbia Tenants
Organization, led by its president,
Bruce Yorke, came out of the
Provincial Rentalsman’s office
with a certain measure of
satisfaction last Monday after a
two-hour meeting in which they
placed the tenants’ viewpoint
before Rentalsman Barrie Clarke.

“We placed our case in the
strongest possible terms,”’ Yorke
commented after the meeting,
‘and there is no doubt that we have
made.a definite impression on the
Rentalsman.”’

Although Clarke would make no
commitment on the tenants’ first
concern, the maximum allowable
rent increase for 1975, Yorke said
that he had expressed agreement

- with some of the BCTO’s demands,

ORGANIZATION president Bruce Yorke speaking to
Ramet conference following the BCTO’s meeting with provincial

—Stiman Barrie Clarke early this week.

Union arranges grain
fo India, Bangladesh

notably on security deposits. He
also told the BCTO lobby that the
section of the Landlord and Tenant
Act requiring tenants to pay
security deposits to the Ren-
talsman of up to a full months’ rent
would not be proclaimed with the
rest of the act.

On the key question of rents,
Yorke said, “We told the Ren-
talsman that we feel the present
8% limit should be extended in-
definitely until a comprehensive
study of the entire rental situation
in B.C. is completed.” He stressed
that although Clarke is expected to,
make his recommendation in mid
September, the outcome will rest.
-on a political decision by the
provincial cabinet. :

“The Rentalsman agreed with
us,” Yorke continued, ‘‘that the:
question of rents has to be tied in’
‘with an over-all housing program.
Private industry is responsible for
the housing crisis and we do not
expect them to solve the crisis. The
NDP government made an election
pledge to remove the profit motive
from the housing market and we
want them to live up to that

dge.”’
ae brief presented to Clarke
— to be presented later to the
provincial cabinet — the BCTO
argued that the 8% figure should
not be modified until “‘the
necessary _ Statistical and

Tenants’ brief stresses
‘rents already too high’

economical facts have been
collected and analyzed and a
comprehensive policy regarding
housing as a whole been
established.

‘‘A rush analysis is not required.
The province’s 3,000 landlords are
far from starving on the rental
income they now get. On the other
hand, a good number of the 300,000
B.C. tenants are very hard pressed
to pay for groceries at today’s
inflated prices, let alone rent in-
creases.

“Tt is well to keep in mind that
there are 100 tenants for every
landlord in the province. Public
policy requires that the interests of
the majority be put first, not those
of a tiny minority, no matter how
vocal.

Tenants meet
September 4

Provincial Rentalsman Barrie
Clarke has agreed to be a feature
speaker at a major rally organized
by the Vancouver Tenants Council,
September 4, 1974 at 8 p.m. in the
Queen Elizabeth Playhouse.

In announcing the meeting, VTC
secretary Bruce Yorke said that in
addition to Clarke the meeting will
also hear from NDP MLA Harold
Steves and Vancouver alderman
Harry Rankin. Yorke will be
chairman for the meeting..”

With a decision expected soon
from the provincial government on
a maximum allowable rent in-
crease for 1975, the tenants’ hope to
make the public meeting with
Clarke a show of strength that will
pressure the cabinet into a
favorable decision.

It will also be the opening shot in
the tenants’ fall campaign that will
see additional lobbies to city hall,
the Rentalsman’s office, and to
Victoria, as well as their own
provincial conference September
7, followed up by an organizational
campaign to increase mem-
bership.

British Columbia is more than just

your Province.
Its your home.

on long beaches.

into the sea.

To be proud of.

See it this Year.

ish Columbia Information Centr

: : ____ For more travel information, visit any Brit
as Columbia Department of Travel Industry, 1019 Wha

e, or write:

rf Street, Victoria, B.C. V8W 222

A land where waves pound down

A land of deep green forests filled with fish
and game. And silence.
A land of mountains that disappear

A land of clean cities and clear air.

A land of valleys full of friendly faces
and warm handshakes. A land where
fresh fruit ripens in warm fall sun.

A land of highways

and backroads that beckon.

A land where history still lives with
today’s way of life.

A land that offers to those fortunate enough
to live here, the qualities of life that
tourists travel miles to experience.

In a world that’s being civilized out of its
senses, come back to yours this fall.
Take the time to look around you.

Ata land to love. To be part of.

Your land . . . British Columbia.

74-506-F

“In our opinion rents are already
too high.”

The BCTO argued that the 8%
rent increase is ‘‘more than
generous’’. Their brief pointed out
that on the average, interest rates
on mortgages account for 50%. of
operating costs for landlords. Since
the principal declines each year,
the amount paid in interest also
declines each year.

The second major operating cost
is municipal taxes which account
for 30% of the remaining costs. The
BCTO provided proof that this
expense is also a fixed or declining
factor for the major landlords and
illustrated the fact by taking 10
apartment blocks owned by Block
Brothers with a range of 20 to 450
suites per block. According to
official records of the Vancouver

City tax department, the total’

taxes on these 10 buildings declined

by $8,298.41 in the two years from :

1971 to 1973.

Put together, interest rates and
municipal taxes amount to 65% of a
landlord’s total operating costs.
The startling conclusion drawn
from these facts is that the 8%
allowable rent increase when
spread over the 35% of operating
costs that are subject to inflation,
is actually a 23% increase in in-
come for the landlords.

Aside from the fact that the 23%
increase afforded landlords is
nearly double the 12% increase in
the cost of living index, the BCTO
stressed that an even more basic
consideration is whether the
original rental price is justified.
This question has not yet been
taken up by either Clarke or the
government.

“We believe that costs, real
costs, not monopoly profits, should
be the primary determinants in
establishing rents,’’ the BCTO told
Clarke, ‘“‘tenants should not have to
pay the shot for skyrocketing land
prices ... or for the usurious
mortgage financiers and in par-
ticular the re-financiers.”’

In other tenant matters Yorke
said that the BCTO received a
cooperative response from Clarke
with regard to the issues of posting
rents and just cause for eviction.
The BCTO is asking that landlords
be required to post rents, with
anniversary dates, in the Ren-
talsman’s office and _ that
grievance procedures in cases of
evictions be simplified, placing the

‘onus of proof on the landlord.

With a government decision
close at hand, the tenants were
more emphatic this time around
about the principles that must
underly the government’s ap-

-proach. ‘‘(Government) policy has

been essentially one of providing
financial aid to private interests,”
the brief said, “‘It’s time that the
band-aid approach be changed.

“The government needs to
declare outright that henceforth
housing will be treated on the same
principles that apply to a public
utility. The fundamental human
need for adequate and reasonably
priced housing is too important a
matter to be left in the hands of
private monopolies, whose only
consideration is profit.’

A massive housing program that
would challenge the private
market, the BCTO emphasized, is
the only solution to the housing
crisis and the only solution to the
crisis in the rental market. Yorke
noted that some sections of the
government are beginning to
acknowledge the need for public
housing but are far from accepting
the responsibility that it entails.

ti ar
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1974—PAGE 3