Family facing eviction

By Dan Hilborn
Published May 10, 2006


Cindy Brule was just a young girl when her family first moved into the city-owned rental house on a two-acre parcel of land near Burnaby Lake.

It was an idyllic place to grow up. There were apple trees in the yard, a chicken coop out back and Burnaby Lake was just a three-minute walk down the alley.

When Brule moved away as a young adult, she always enjoyed her visits back home to spend time with her father and the sister who stayed in the house.

When her father's health took a turn for the worse in 1999, Brule's sister stayed on as the new official tenant of record in the home. Then, last winter, Brule's sister decided to move too, and that's when Brule, her husband and three kids moved into the 80-year-old home and took over payment of the $800-per-month rent that was charged by the city.

But the Brules do not have a formal leasing agreement with the City of Burnaby, and their dream of living in the longtime family home appears to be coming to an unhappy end.

Last week, the Brules received a letter from Carol Clausen, the supervisor of property use and property management at Burnaby city hall, that informs them they are not recognized as the "official tenants of record" on the property. The letter states they will have to move, probably within two months, as the city moves forward with its long-term plan to develop the property as part of nearby Warner Loat Park.

The Brule family, who survive on the small $30,000 annual salary that husband Norm earns as a chartered bus driver and can only obtain a mortgage of about $120,000, are worried they will never be able to find another place as nice as Cindy's lifelong family home, where they can afford the rent.

Cindy Brule is understandably frantic about the prospects.

"It's hard to find housing for a family," Brule said, in one of about half-a-dozen interviews with the Burnaby NOW since she first contacted this newspaper more than two weeks ago.

"The way I see it, this has always been our home," she said. "It's been our home for 36 years."

While nobody disputes the fact that Brule has regularly moved in and out of the home at 4079 Piper Ave. over the past 36 years, neither Cindy nor her husband have a legal tenancy agreement on the property.

Brule's father first moved onto the sprawling property with his family in June 1970, when Cindy was still a child. After the death of his wife, the father moved out in 1994, and the then-adult Cindy with her own family moved back into the house. Two years later, Cindy and the young family moved to Quebec, and her sister legally added her name to the lease, which was still in her father's name.

Compounding the issue is a recent inspection report from the city's physical plant maintenance department that found the home needs "considerable work" to bring it up to current rental standards. And the city is reluctant to undertake that work, when the long-term plan calls for the demolition of the home and the conversion of the property into undeveloped parkland.

Craig Collis, the chief license inspector at Burnaby city hall, said there are few options open to the city.

"We have a process for tenanting our properties, and we don't have a tenancy agreement with the Brules," said Collis, who noted that family may have to argue their case with the Residential Tenancy Branch.

While Collis understands the anxiety and apprehension of the family, he also said there is little he can do to help.

"We don't provide breaks, or low income housing," Collis said. "But if we do come across a situation where a tenant's financial situation has changed, what we do offer them is to contact people with BC Housing and similar organizations, so that hopefully, they can get some housing within the same general area."

Patricia Pedersen, the official homeless outreach worker in Burnaby, said the highly unusual case of the Brule family is evidence of how tough it is for a family of limited financial means to find decent affordable housing in the increasingly expensive urban environment of Burnaby.

"They're in a really bad squeeze," Pedersen told the Burnaby NOW. "They're not going to be able to find housing for that price. And I think the best we can do is buy them some time.

"The family is in there because they misinterpreted the situation and believed their could assume the lease," Pedersen said. "I look at the situation morally. She was raised there, she wants her kids there, and morally, I don't think it's right to take her off that land."

Pedersen said she is willing to take up the Brule's case, but the family may have to be prepared to move out of that particular house.

"Legally, they don't have the documents, so even asking the city to do something may be a waste of time," she said.

Pedersen also said that the Brule's story is a good example of what can happen when there is a lack of affordable housing in a community.

"If a family is forced into a place they can't afford, they have to make the choice between rent and food, and that is essentially causing homelessness," she said. "We need more affordable housing."

Pedersen, who is worried about the funding for her own job running out next month, said the city should consider a suggestion to charge lower rental fees for low income families.