© The Canadian Press / Don DentonThe square in the former Olympic Village housing development, now called The Village on False Creek in downtown Vancouver
"I was so overwhelmed I started crying," Mikkonen told the Canadian Press. "I felt like we won the lottery."
Mikkonen had worked as a forestry engineer until a car accident prematurely ended her career seven years ago. Her husband, a former RCMP officer, is also unable to work due to blood clots in his legs. For over a year the couple had been unable to afford housing in Vancouver's expensive rental market. That changed in 2010, when the government pledged to convert a number of Olympic Village units once occupied by the athletes into low-income housing.
Though the number of units made available was slashed to recoup city costs, the couple managed to secure one of the rare vacant apartments just over a year ago. But now the Mikkonens fear that unexpectedly high utility bills may result in their eviction from the property.
"If we were forced to pay this bill, we would have to move - where, I have no idea, because there is nothing cheaper than this," said Connor Mikkonen.
Around 20 tenants said they had received added costs for hot and cold water that did not appear in their residential agreements. These bills, they said, can run up to as much as 10 per cent of their monthly incomes. Lawyer Scott Bernstein, who has been working with the tenants, said most were never told they would received any power bills outside their monthly B.C. Hydro charges.
In May, however, tenants started receiving additional bills from local energy distributor Enerpro, many of which ranged from $40 to $150 on top of their regular hydro costs. Bernstein, who works with Pivot Legal Society, added that the bills included heating charges for times the central heating system was not working and tenants had been forced to resort to space heaters.
The Mikkonens were confronted with a $148 charge for a two-month period. Another resident, Arlene Lemoigne, said she was billed $48 after living in her unit for less than a week.
"I am very angry. I am stressed out to no end," she told the CBC.
Deputy City Manager Sandhu Johnston said the city can no longer afford to subsidize the Village's heating costs and payment must now fall on the individual tenants.
"We can't responsibly use taxpayer dollars to subsidize their bills indefinitely," he said. "If they are unable to stay in those homes, we would work with them to help find a home they could afford to stay in."
But Thom Armstrong, executive director of the society managing the buildings, said officials are trying to make things "fair and equitable" for everyone.
"Talk about evicting anyone is completely premature," he said. "We have told the tenants that we want to listen to their concerns."
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