_ iEE-donatieBie ~ SEPTEMBER
NEWSLETTER
'
1, 2020
carnn~ws@vcn.bc.ca
401 Main Street Vancouver Canada V6A 2T7 (604) 665~2289
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B.C. Tenants Report Deteriorating Mental Health, Going Hungry, and Fears About Making Rent VANCOUVER With the province-wide ban on evictions for nonpayment of rent set to end Sept 1st, the Vancouver . Tenants Union (V'I'Ujsurveyed 400 renters about their rent situations and their overall well-being. The results were alarming. . A significant number of all respondents (63%) re~orted experiencing increased mental health Issues (high anxiety, insomnia, depression) related specifically to their housing precarity. Despite government programs like Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERE)
and the B.C. Temporary Rent Supplement (TRS), 32% of respondents reported having to borrow, use credit, or dip into savings in order to maintain rent payments. And, although there was no specific question about food in the survey; 28% of written responses describ~d sacrificing basic nutrition or going hungry m order to maintain rent payments. "Premier Horgan stated in March that nobody would lose their home as a result of COVID19 " said VTU volunteer Mazdak Gharibnavaz. "But rents are so .high that, even with financial supports, renters are sacrificing the bas.ics. going hungry, and those who have fallen behind are