A beloved East Vancouver restaurant, Liberté Café, is set to close its doors after facing a staggering 120% rent increase. The café, known for its Filipino dishes and Ube pastries, is located on Vaness Avenue near Boundary Road in Vancouver’s Joyce-Collingwood neighbourhood. Its owner, Charles Tsang, opened the restaurant in 2020 with the goal of offering the community a taste of Filipino cuisine. However, after struggling through the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest rent hike has left him with no choice but to shut down.
A Burden Too Heavy to Bear
Tsang expressed that a more reasonable rent increase could have been manageable, perhaps through adjusting prices or cutting operating hours. But a 120% increase was simply insurmountable. “A 120-percent increase, nobody could survive,” Tsang remarked, emphasizing the emotional toll the situation has taken on him. “It’s really sad and there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s like I am giving my kids away.”
Tsang’s words reflect the deep personal and financial strain caused by the rapid rent hike, which is particularly painful given the effort and sleepless nights invested in growing the café from the ground up. He lamented the loss of a business that had become a cherished spot in the neighbourhood.
A Changing Community
The neighbourhood, long a food and community hub for newcomers, particularly for the Filipino community, is undergoing rapid change due to increased development. Joyce-Collingwood has long been an affordable area for families to settle, offering easy access to religious services and a strong sense of community. However, residents are now fearful of being displaced due to gentrification, as rising rents push out small businesses that have served the community for years.
Sammie Jo Rumbaua, a member of the Joyce Street Action Network, shared concerns about the future of the area. “Everyone is really scared of being renovicted from their neighbourhood,” she said. “We don’t have a Filipino cultural centre right now, so we used these places to gather.” The closure of Liberté Café represents a broader issue of rapidly escalating rents and the erosion of community spaces that hold cultural significance for local residents.
The Need for Change
In light of his restaurant’s closure, Tsang is calling for legislative changes to better protect commercial tenants from rent hikes that threaten the survival of small businesses. While residential tenants in British Columbia have the Residential Tenancy Branch to regulate rent increases, commercial tenants lack similar protections. Tsang emphasized that commercial landlords are free to set rent increases at their discretion, with little recourse for tenants facing unsustainable hikes.
Despite the setback, Tsang remains hopeful about the future. He expressed his desire to reopen Liberté Café in a new location. However, the escalating rents and increased costs of renovations across the city have made this a challenging prospect. With inflation driving up construction and renovation costs, Tsang anticipates that it will cost twice as much to renovate a new location as it did to open his original café.
A Final Chance to Taste Liberté Café
Foodies who have enjoyed Tsang’s offerings will have a limited time to visit Liberté Café before it closes its doors for good in February. The restaurant’s closure marks the end of an era for the Joyce-Collingwood community, leaving behind fond memories of delicious Filipino dishes and a sense of community that the café nurtured. The hope remains that Tsang will be able to find a new home for his restaurant, but for now, the community will have to say goodbye to a cherished local spot.
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