The Editor,
Re. “Dozens ticketed for illegal suites in Coquitlam” (The Tri-City News, March 16).
“Coquitlam cracking down on illegal secondary suites” was the headline of a story published in The Tri-City News in September 2016. On that issue, Stephanie James, the city’s acting director of legal and bylaw enforcement, said staff will focus on rental and real estate advertisements promoting secondary suites in residences where they are not allowed.
On March 16, 2018, The Tri-City News reported the same acting director of legal and bylaw enforcement said “some people were forced to find new housing as a result of the enforcement effort but said no data has been kept to track the exact number.”
How is possible that the director of a municipal department doesn’t have any data to track the number of displaced people that resulted from illegal suites? Doesn’t the city provide this person with computer resources to do a better and more efficient job in keeping track of the illegal suites? To begin with, who is responsible for the existence of illegal suites?
What is more, according to Ms. James, “The primary goal of the city’s suite enforcement program is to prevent illegal suites from being established in the first place.” What has the city done since 2016 to prevent the proliferation and establishment of the huge number of inadequate secondary suites that, in spite of having safety issues, are currently advertised in Craigslist?
Is she aware of the unthinkable number of windowless basement suites advertised by unscrupulous real estate agents and landlords who, taking advantage of the current housing crisis, flippantly upgraded or renovated their underground caves to charge exorbitant rental prices while at the same time they are disregarding not only the city’s bylaws but, also, the safety of unwary tenants and their youngsters?
Marta Posilovic, Coquitlam
