Tenant with disability calls on Victoria council to make parking accessible for renters

Victoria renter Aeryn Donald is asking Victoria city council to expand its subsidized monthly parking pass for people with disabilities to include not just students and people who work downtown but also downtown residents.

Donald lives with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects joints and other soft tissues in the body, leading to chronic pain and dislocations. For them, owning a car is more than a convenience, it's a mobility aid that Donald told Victoria council has allowed a "massive improvement" in their quality of life. 

But the Dalmatian, a subsidized housing complex run by Pacifica Housing that Donald recently moved into, doesn't have any parking spaces — except for a private parking lot that charges $360 a month.

Developments like the Dalmatian are part of a growing strategy in Victoria to lower the cost and environmental impact of new rental housing by reducing or eliminating tenant parking spaces.

Donald says they and other downtown residents with disabilities would like Victoria city council to expand the eligibility of parking permits to include them and also consider providing parking for people with disabilities in new housing projects.

"We should be trying to reduce our car use," they told the CBC's Jason D'Souza. But on the other hand, as a disabled person, I'm finding there are a lot of people like myself that are falling through the cracks on these policies because we are left with no other options."

Without any affordable place to keep their car indefinitely, Donald buys $4 one-day accessible parking permits to put on their car each day. If they aren't able to find a spot by the parking meters near their building, they have to walk down the street every three hours to move their car in the timed parking spots.

"It's just not possible to do that on a bad pain day because I have difficulty even getting to the bathroom on those days," they said.

Choosing between housing and health

At age 29, Donald says they have struggled with housing insecurity their whole life. They said they have spent the last decade on-and-off the wait list for B.C. Housing and most recently lived at the Cridge Centre transition house.

So when they got the email they were approved to move into an affordable unit at the Dalmatian, Donald cried. They said without any response from other places they'd applied, their only other option would have been to move into their car after leaving the Cridge.

Instead, Donald chose to move into the Dalmatian. In their address to council, they said they're not the only low-income resident of the building who has been negatively affected by the lack of parking access.

"You can tell a lot about a community by how it treats its most vulnerable people, and the disabled should not have to choose between our health and our housing security," Donald said.

Donald asked council to make parking more accessible by expanding the $60-a-month disabled parking pass to downtown residents with disabilities and by contracting Robbins Parking, the private parking lot by their building, to honour parking permits for people with disabilities.

Donald says they have reached out to Robbins Parking, Pacifica Housing, and the province for help with their situation but have been unable to find support.

In a statement to the CBC, Pacifica Housing CEO Carolina Ibarra said the nonprofit could not discuss any specific resident's situation due to privacy. Although Pacifica Housing does not own the parking lot, Ibarra said that there are 19 units designated exclusively for residents to use, which are rented out for $255 a month.

"Pacifica Housing fully supports the move toward reduced parking requirements to facilitate housing affordability, reduced environmental impact and the promotion of active transportation," Ilbarra said in the statement.

"Having said that, we also recognize it is important that as society moves in this direction, we must ensure solutions are in place to prevent people from being left behind."

However, Donald disputed Pafica's parking rental estimate with an email to CBC News, showing a Pacifica Housing staff member telling them that Robbins Parking charges $360 a month for parking.

"Ridiculous I know," the staff member wrote.

City council response

Coun. Jeremy Caradonna, who has spoken out in favour of car-free housing developments previously, says Donald's experience will allow council to be more mindful of accessibility barriers when deciding on future housing project proposals.

"These are things we need to be mindful of as we try to build a car-light city," he said. "The reality is, there are people who genuinely need a vehicle. That includes certain people with disabilities, a lot of folks in the trades, and other people as well."

Coun. Susan Kim said that because a housing complex like the Dalmatian hadn't been built in downtown Victoria since the 1990s, advocacy from residents like Donald is crucial to making council aware of any barriers in the community in future housing projects.

"I think it sets the precedent for council as well as housing providers and developers to be smarter," she said.