Correspondence regarding Christie Point Redevelopment - Lisa Cole

Hello Mayor and Council,

My name is Lisa Cole and I live on 2861 Craigowan Road - at Christie Point in View Royal. Tonight I speak in response to Realstar’s new Relocation Support Package.

The residents of Christie Point are facing a great uncertainty at the moment - myself included. We keep hearing that Victoria’s rental vacancy rate is at 0.5% - some media are now quoting 0.2. We don’t know when the redevelopment will take place, how – or if – we will be able to find a new place to live when the time comes. This level of uncertainty is causing a great deal of stress and stress-related illness - for myself, my partner, and other residents I’ve spoken to. Over the past several months, I’ve developed high blood pressure – something I’d never experienced before all of this began. My partner, Randy, suffers from Crohn’s Disease, which is often triggered by stress. He would be here tonight, but he hasn’t been well. When he was first diagnosed several years ago, his doctors told him he needed to find a quiet home where he could relax, and for three years, Christie Point was that place. For the first three years we lived there, he barely experienced any discomfort at all – he was starting to feel like he’d overcome it completely. But because of a potential redevelopment and all that entails, our home has become a major source of anxiety, and the Crohn’s has been flaring up again.

At first glance, Realstar’s Relocation Support Package seems very generous – and in theory – it is. But the reality of our current needs does not match what’s being offered. By covering moving costs, mail forwarding, and utility disconnection/reconnection fees, Realstar’s package is geared towards moving us out – in other words, it’s geared towards THEIR needs. They need us to go so they can rebuild, but, as we keep hearing - there’s nowhere for us to go. Two months free rent at the new apartment units means very little when we don’t know what the new rents will be – or if we’ll be able to afford them. What we need is a little bit of certainty – we need to know there’s somewhere for us to go when the redevelopment takes place – a place that we can afford to live in.

As Ann has said, Christie Point Advocates had given Realstar a list of Tenant Protection and Relocation guidelines, which they did not take into consideration when drawing up their new Support Package. Of all the things listed in those guidelines, the two most important – in my opinion – are:

1. hiring an independent tenant relations officer to help Christie Point residents find new places to live, and
2. offering grandfathered rents to residents who choose to move back into the complex once the new units are in place.

These two points would give us at least some certainty in a very uncertain situation. We’d know someone would help us find a new home, and we’d know we could afford to return to Christie Point once construction is completed.

It’s not that we’re ungrateful to Realstar, or that we’re asking for more than they’re already offering, we are simply asking for what’s APPROPRIATE to our needs. We’re asking for more certainty – which, in turn, could help relieve some of the stress of our present situation.

Thank You.