North Vancouver marina residents say they fear becoming homeless after notice to vacate

UPDATEDec. 8, 2023:At a virtual meeting held the evening of Dec. 7, full-time residents of the Mosquito Creek Marina were told by the Nch'ay Development Corporation that they will be allowed to stay in their homes and the eviction notice applies only to part-time residents and recreational boaters.

EARLIER:

More than 200 residents of a North Vancouver marina say they are shocked and at risk of homelessness after the marina owner instructed them to vacate their homes within six months to make way for "critical repairs."

The nearly 500 boats and 83 boat sheds moored at Mosquito Creek Marina need to be gone by May 31, 2024, the Nch'ay Development Corporation, an arm of the SquamishFirst Nation, said in a Tuesday email to tenants.

Some of the marina docks have "deteriorated such that critical repairs, which will begin immediately, are needed to stabilize them for the winter," while others need to be "permanently closed,"Gary Muuren, executive vice-president of operations said in the Tuesday email.

While Nch'ay says the announcement does not impact the 50 float homes moored at the marina, residents say the approximately 200 people who live in their boats and boat sheds will be homeless.

WATCH | 'I'm pleading that the decision-makers...understand what they're doing to us,'resident says:

Mass evictions from North Vancouver marina 'unfathomable,' says couple

10 months ago

Duration 0:51

Jeff Bartlett and Sasha Selby shed tears talking about leaving their home of nearly a decade at Mosquito Creek Marina. They are among dozens of residents told by the Nchay Development Corporation that they need to vacate the marina by the end of May.

"I don't understand where they think we're going to go," said Jeff Bartlett, who has lived in a boat shed at the marina with his family for more than nineyears.

Bartlett and his partner Sasha Selby sold a house to purchase their boat shed, investing their life savings into renovations to make it a home for their two children.

Inside the 70-foot shed are converted living quarters which include a second-floor living space,a main-level workshop and a moored 50-foot boat boat where they sleep.

They invested in the space as an affordable alternative to housing prices in the region, but with marinas jam-packed around the Lower Mainland, the couple doesn't know where else they could go.

"It was a great place for us to raise our children and now it's nothing," said Selby in an emotional interview outside their home.

Elizabeth MacKinnon says she went numb when she heard the news and has barely been able to sleep since.

After her husband died last year, she used the money from selling their home pre-pandemic to purchase a boat shed and was set to move into Mosquito Creek this weekend.

"I have visions of me ending up in a tent or in a camper van on the street, because where am I going to go?" MacKinnon said in an interview.

In a Thursday statement to CBC News, a spokesperson for the development group said the decision to evict boats and boat houses moored at the marina was made after an independent conditions assessment was finalized last month.

"Our top priority in navigating this challenging situation is, without question, the safety of tenants, residents, and their assets," said the statement.

The developer said it has heard residents' concerns and reassured them that they would not become homeless.

"In response to new information about people currently living on their boats or in boat sheds as a primary residence, we will be working directly with these residents to explore viable options for their homes," said the statement.

"While we are currently unsure of what those options may entail, we can assure these residents that they will not find themselves without a place to live come May 31, 2024."

'Unfathomable'

Ginger Gosnell-Myers, who has lived in a float home on the marina for 13 years, says residents are considering their legal options, and have been in touch with local elected officials to prevent displacement of permanent residents.

She says Mosquito Creek residentshave been advocating for repairs to the docks for years.

"There is no plan in place to make either the docks safe or to ensure that people get to live here, people who have lived here and raise their families for decades," she told CBC News.

"I'm just incredibly sad by all of this."

In Tuesday's email to tenants, Muuren said"extensive repairs have been done to prolong the life of Mosquito Creek Marina's docks" in the past several decades.

"However, the latest available assessments indicate that the state of decay is too great for further repairs to successfully extend the lifespan of these structures," he said.

While Gosnell-Myers and other float home residents have been told they are not affected, she wants to see a plan for phased repairs that allows everyone to stay while the docks are fixed.

"I do not accept a plan that tells us that we have to vacate in order to have an option for our safety," said Gosnell-Myers. "Making people homeless is probably the most unsafe route that anybody can take."

Bartlett and Selby also said they are suspicious of what future plans the developer may have for the marina.

"It's unfathomable and it's driven by, in my opinion, greed," said Bartlett.

"I'm pleading that the decision-makers find their moral compass and understand what they're doing to us and our children, because it's not right."