A group representing pet owners is set to meet with the Provincial Housing Minister Selena Robinson Thursday to make arguments aimed at getting the no-pets policy removed from the Residential Tenancy Act.
Eliot Galan co-founded Pets OK BC. He says all sorts of people have ben affected by the inability to find housing unless they give up their pets. He points to the SPCA's own numbers of surrendered pets where 1774 families were forced to surrender their companion animals specifically because of housing issues.
He says there's an unknown number of people who chose to go homeless rather than give up their pets, and now sleep in their cars or couch surf.
Galan adds arguments that pets can cause damage can be countered by the fact renters themselves can cause damage, and that's what a damage deposit is for. The group has collected over 10,000 names on an old fashioned paper petition.