ess sours sNV landlady Damage deposit policy questioned A NORTH Vancouver apart- ment manager is asking why the Social Services Ministry would consider helping an evicted tenant obtain a new home by paying for another security deposit. el ro By Anna Marle D'Angelo News Reporter Barbara Sharpe was left with an apartment littered with broken glass, tossed condoms and smashed egys after she evicted a tenant on welfare. “They (Social Services Ministry workers) don’t care, They can’t tell “clients what to do,” said Sharpe. Sharpe said she had to evict the woman because she didn’t pay the $575 a month rent. The apartment manager said the tenant’s security dumaye was $287.50, but the damage to the one- bedroom suite -amourit td to more _ than $1,000. Z * “The office goes after money if - they have jobs,” said Sharpe. Sharpe said she rented the. Centra! Lonsdale apartment to the single mother last June, ; Meanwhile North Vancouver- Lonsdale MLA David Schreck said he expects the evicted tenant to have difficulties renting another place. ~. “The welfare policy, as [| under- stand it, is that that person is not going to. get replacement. money - (for missing rent) and will experi- ence difficulty: in relocating which : will be. some of the consequences -in the short run,” said Schreck He said a landiord has to use ' non-discriminatory. business judg- ment when making the decision of ’ choosing a tenant. He said the gov- _» ernment is not responsible for a ‘ fandlord’ s bad business decision. Schreck sail a landlord ein pur sue legal avenues to tecever the damages whee the evicted tenant gets a job, “Nobody remains on welfare or wants to remain on weltiere forever. Seoner or tater thes bave an income which the landlord cin go after in the form of a garnishee.” said Schreck, adding that his sug- gestion may be of fille practical value inthe short term, He puinted out that those who Swuse such danige oO apartinents are not all necessarily welfare clients, “There is no question that peo- ple should be’ held accountable for their actions,” said Schreck. “However, that accountability has to end ata line of saying that some people should be forced ta sleep under bridges because of a landlord-tenant dispute.” Social Services Ministry spokesman Karen Johnston said she didn’t know whether or not the welfare recipient would obtain a new security deposit, Johnston said the client’s future rental situation would be known by the case worker involved. Johnston said that since January the ministry recovers all security . deposits that once were returned directly to welfare clients. According to the Social Services Ministry, the government pays out $24 million annually in security deposits to landlords renting to income-assistance recipients, but in _ the past “recovered very little.” Meanwhile Sharpe has rented Suites to “lots” of good tenants on welfare, but claims that tenants responsible for trashing places tend to be ones on social assistance. “When they come in, you cati't discriminate. You check their refer- ences and case workers will say,- Per) ‘Pll vouch for them,’.” said Sharpe. i We answer to runners, not stockholders. Stockholders want higher profits, bigger dividends. Runners want better fitting, better performing running shoes. What's an athletic shoe company to do? . With only one stockholder (our owner), it’s a pretty easy call. M998 RUNNING {MK807 RUGGED WALKING | RR CXT775 CROSS COURT| fa _|MxS60 CASUAL WALKING [Een a W998 RUNNING W680 RUNNING WK740 WALKING € 1998 Now Balame Athtenic Shor, Inc. Bosna, MA 02134. All righ LSTAR SPORTS MPARK ROYAL NORTH 922-2115 new balancerz Amore intelligent approach to building shoes. April 27/94 } ‘SEED’, j program for students. Four organiza- NEWS photo Clady Goodman A DISGRUNTLED evicted welfare tenant recently feft this rant- -ed suite in a filthy mess with appareritly no immediate conse- quences to her action. The tenant’s security deposit dcesn’t cover the damage, leaving the landlord with repair costs. Advertorial . Ted White, M.P. #302 12C0 Lymn Valley Rd. North Vancouver V7IZAQ Telephone: 666-0585 Fax: 666-0509 SUMMER JOBS #2 On Apri 13th | wrote about my plan to have a community committee make the decisions on grants for the summer “job creation” tions which had applied for grants f were very. unhappy at this J announcement and sent me letters of complaint, but ! also received a number of calls anc letters of sup- } port from taxpayers. THE MEETING The “Applications Approval | Committee” met on Saturday, April 16, 1994. | had previously met only | one of the fifteen poople randomly selected from the voters’ list. | did not know their political affiliations j and their ages ranged from early i twenties to eigh' There were men and women, different ethnic back- # grounds and a variety of jobs from | social worker to businessman to | homemaker to retired. We began by discussing the objectives of the program and the criteria on which the group felt the ‘} decisions should be made. It was i decided to consider, among other things, the relevance of the job fF experience for the student, whether f the job would be “created” without a R grant, whether approving a grant would give an advantage to one business over another, whether the project was of real value to the com- munity, whether the organization should charge more for its services t instead of asking for a grant, j whether the wages were too low or too high for a student job, and {| whether the job was reaily just pro- f viding summer relief for vacationing } workers. It was decided not to reveai the names on the applications for grants i in case the information triggered a biased reaction in favour or against the grant. APPROVED AND REJECTED The committee approved thirty six applications, some with reduced grants, and rejected sixteen. My involvement.was in moving among the groups to answer questions and to remind everyone about the deci- sion criteria. On Monday April 18, 1994 when Employment Canada was given the resuits | refused to approve applica- lions which had been rejected by the: committee. The committee hac taken their job very seriously and had administered our tax dollars in a very responsible manner. | will not go against their decisions. APPEALS Employment. Canada is appeal- ing 12 cases to the Minister of Human Resources. They call these cases “non-consensus” a3 if no decl- sion had been reached. Non elected bureaucrats are taking the power out of the hands of the people who pay the bills and yes, out of the hancs of your elected representative. This week in Parliament | intend to ask the Minister not to reverse the decisions of our community commit- 3 tee, but | think | know what the | answer will be. Less consideration will be given to the opinions of the | voters than to the applicants for | grants. If this makes you mad please write to: Hon Lloyd Axworthy , Minister of: Human Resources, House of Commons, Ottawa, : Ontario, K1A OA6. And if you agree with our com- mittee that $13.75+ per tour for a } student job is excessive or that one level of government should not be applying for grants from another } level of government, write to both North Vancouver Councils and ask for their explanation. AT GAP Computer Courses Are you Jooking for a users inendly introduction te computers! Our popular basics contses for beginners offer a hands-on introduction to Windows, the hasies of word processing and spreadsheets. Basics of Microcomputers courses start April 27 and May 5 (eight Tuesdays or Thursdays, 7-10 pan), Call Extension Preyraums at 984-4901 for mare information or registration. Artistic Expressions Whether you're new to painting or an artist with some experience, you'll find oils an expressive and versatile, inediam. Learn the wehniques of the masters in this eight week course, and build your abilicies through creazive and technical experimentation. Oil Painting starts tonigly:, 7 to 10 pam. at the Silk Purse, Call Extension Programs at 984-4901 for more infornyation or registration: ,. - Textile Aris Exhibition Textere, an exhibition of works - by the students of the Textile _Arts Program, will be on display “May 3 through 20 at the Communiry Arts Council Gallery, 837 Davie St, Vancouver. Gallery hours are” Tuesday - Friday, (0 aan. - 4 pam, and | - 4 pan. on Saturday. The Textile Arts Program wilt he. holding interviews in May for courses starting in September. For more information Please call 984-4911. - A Helping Career Would you like to work with people who have physical disabilities? The Personal Assistant for Persons with Disabilities Program will be holding information mectings on Thursday, April 28, and Wednesday. May 25, The meetings take place at 6:30 p.m. in room 204 of the “H” Building. Graphic Design on Display - The Graphic Design and Hlustration Program holds its graduate exhibition May 13-21 at the Sinclair Centre, Mezzanene fluor, 757 West Hastings, Vancouver. The hours are 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., Monday - Saturday. CAPILANO COLLEGE 2055 Purcell Way North Vancouver British Columbia , 986-1911