People living in an affordable apartment building in Surrey are pleading with the city to stop looming “demovictions.”
After receiving their eviction notices, tenants at Elizabeth Manor, and local housing advocates are marched to Surrey Cityhall in protest on Monday, to stop the displacement of tenants and their affordable housing stock.
Marmie Bruan, a resident of the building says she is 35 weeks pregnant and has to be moved out within three months.
“I don’t have a home yet to go to, and I’m alone, I don’t have anyone to help me move,” she said. “Especially to take care of my baby, I’m having a c-section, it’s too hard for me to stand up and carry everything.”
She pays a little over 900 dollars for her unit, and she says everything is too expensive and she won’t be able to afford anything when she’s on maternity leave.
Families that are facing eviction are worried that they’ll be forced out of the neighbourhood.
“What are we supposed to do? My dad is an Uber driver and doesn’t make a lot of money and my mom doesn’t work she has to take care of my little sister,” one of the tenants of the building said.
ACORN Canada, a national housing advocacy group says some 50-plus families live in the apartment building.
The group is calling on the city to stop eviction plans and bring in anti-displacement tenant protections to protect the vulnerable community.