Stop Demovictions Burnaby
Unceded and Occupied Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-Waututh Territories
Stop Demovictions Burnaby was a grassroots community organizing project to stop evictions and mass displacement in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Metrotown. The campaign, organized by Red Braid alongside low-income renters facing demoviction, held marches, rallies, and monthly townhall meetings, and published a newsletter called We Won’t Go.
Stop Demovictions Burnaby formed in response to the Metrotown Downtown Plan, which Burnaby City Council passed in July 2017. The plan increased allowable building heights throughout the residential Metrotown community, enabling developers to build luxury high rise condo towers in the place of thousands of existing affordable, low-rise apartments. By the time the redevelopment is done, more than 6,000 people will have been displaced from their home community, unless we fight back to stop evictions
In 2020, Stop Demovictions Burnaby developed into the cross-regional Eviction Defence Network to fight the eviction crisis across the Lower Mainland.
Updates and Events
May 1st: Family, Food, Health Before Landlords
On March 25th, the provincial government announced a halt on evictions for unpaid rent during the COVID-19 crisis. That means if you can’t pay your rent, stay in your home. Now is the time to say enough by organizing to collectively withhold our rent!
Burnaby tenants rally against new mass rezoning
In November 2019, Stop Demovictions Burnaby organized a rally against the mass rezoning of hundreds of affordable rental units [...]
Maywood Community BBQ Against Gentrification
Stop Demovictions is planning our next summer BBQ! Join us on Saturday, July 6th from 4:00 to 7:00pm at Maywood Park, 6480 McKay Avenue.
June Townhall: Will Burnaby’s new housing policies protect tenants from displacement?
The Mayor’s Task Force recently released 10 "quick starts" to tackle the housing crisis in Burnaby. At this town hall, we will peel back the technical language and media hype to see what is going on and how it will impact Indigenous and working class tenants in Metrotown.
International day of action against evictions and outrageous rents
Organizers from Mietenwahnsinn in Berlin are calling for demonstrations across the world on Saturday, April 6 with actions being planned in Germany, Spain, France and elsewhere… and we want to join them!
We Won’t Go: February Newsletter
Articles include "Home Defenders Stand with Land Defenders" by Sadie and Destiny Morris, "Stop Demovictions Burnaby Vision for 2019," and "Burnaby's Housing Task Farce: A developer-heavy housing task force won't end the crisis Metrotown renters" face by Emily and Zoe Luba.