Thirteen Downtown Eastside SRO buildings to be renovated through public-private project
Thirteen single room occupancy hotels in the Downtown Eastside will be renovated through a public-private partnership announced by the provincial and federal governments today (March 2).
The Canadian government is contributing up to $29.1 million toward the renovations through the P3 Canada Fund, while the B.C. government is contributing $87.3 million.
Rich Coleman, the B.C. minister responsible for housing, said the renovated units will provide about 900 residents with improved living conditions. Many of the 13 provincially-owned buildings are over 100 years old, and require structural, plumbing and electrical infrastructure upgrades.
“This investment’s going to extend the life of these buildings, and provide affordable housing well into the future,” Coleman told reporters at a news conference at the renovated Walton Hotel on East Hastings Street.
Jean Swanson, the coordinator of the Carnegie Community Action Project, said new social housing units are badly needed in the Downtown Eastside.
“This government is not building new social units—just a handful of units,” she told the Straight.
“The situation’s really dire for low-income people, and unless there’s new social housing built, we’re still going to have people in the shelters, people on the streets, and people in those 3,000 units of really crummy housing.”
Swanson said about 4,000 SRO rooms in the low-income neighbourhood are in need of replacement.
Coleman noted the construction of 14 supportive housing sites in Vancouver is underway.
Karen O’Shannacery, the executive director of the Lookout Society, which operates the Walton Hotel, described the SRO building before it was renovated as “one of the worst hotels” in the area.
“There was holes in the walls, holes in the floor, there was blood everywhere, there was doors that were hanging on, there were windows that were ready to fall out,” she said.
“It was a very dangerous place…but it was a roof over people’s heads.”
After the renovation, she noted, “it’s no longer a roof.”
“This is people’s homes,” she said.
A request for proposals for the renovation of the 13 buildings has been issued, and a private company will be selected to design, build, finance and maintain the project. Coleman said tenants needing to vacate their rooms during renovations will be provided with interim housing nearby.
The 13 hotels slated for renovations are: Beacon Hotel, Cordova Residence/Cordova Rooms, Dominion Hotel, Gastown Hotel, Hazelwood Hotel, Marble Arch Hotel, Marr Hotel, Orange Hall, Roosevelt/Molson’s Bank Building, Sunrise Hotel, Tamura House, The Rice Block, and Washington Hotel.
Comments
18 Comments
W. End
Mar 2, 2012 at 5:40pm
Are these buildings publicly-owned? Or private? The article does not provide much detail on the "public-private" partnership aspects of the program. I hope we are not rewarding property owners who have allowed their buildings to decline to deplorable conditions with free tax dollars for renovations.
Shepsil
Mar 2, 2012 at 6:56pm
Another retread news release from the BC Liberals. Everytime they want us to hear some positive news about them, they repeat old, tired out, unfulfilled promises from the distant past. These formerly released, media releases, are good news for Adrian Dix and the BCNDP, who sincerely want to fix our broken BC Gov't. There are two by-elections about to be announced, Port Moody & Chilliwack-Hope. It won't be hard to win these elections with Christy Clark and the BC Liberals constantly fumbling the ball!
derp
Mar 2, 2012 at 11:08pm
money will be stolen wholesale by the private contractors false billing. i hope somebody is keeping an eye on it
By the numbers
Mar 3, 2012 at 12:14am
B-O-G-U-S
We need some actual affordable housing in this city, like, 3 years ago.
HOW ABOUT BUILDING SOME NEW BUILDINGS.
Sick of hearing "can't can't can't!"!
How about a "we can do!"
suck it
Mar 3, 2012 at 10:30am
These buildings are owned by BC Housing they are not rennovating for private building owners. I am so very Glad to see this happening because these people are still human beings and deserve a chance in life and a decent home to live in. I work at a few of these buildings and can say that this change is for the better .
ds
Mar 3, 2012 at 11:03am
This is good news for the people living down there and a lot more needs to be done. That being said I wonder about the timing of this though. Two
levels of goverment smelling awfull bad and then a news release that makes them look like they care about the comon people who are the ones who need the most help.
james green
Mar 3, 2012 at 11:04am
Hey Rich. Tell us about your progress with Little Mountain that you and BC Housing demolished. No dirt has been tossed and no construction has began after 4 years.
Hundreds lost their homes due to your leadership. So tell us Rich, when will Holburn and you and the city make the pie in the sky dream of selling public land to finance new social housing begin to take shape?
Just asking Mr. Minister.
Loretta
Mar 3, 2012 at 11:54am
Wouldn't it be faster to build a few new ones first, and then gut the old ones to renovate?
I am glad to hear they are BC Housing's buildings, and hope that those who robbed the poor by running them into the ground didn't profit from the sale or transfer.
Yes, the contractors MUST be WATCHED CONSTANTLY!
Zako
Mar 3, 2012 at 12:16pm
Of course, the problem is that it's the troubled tenants themselves that destroy these buildings. By all means, upgrade them structurally, electrically, and in terms of plumbing, but don't expect the fresh coats of paint to stick. There will be holes in the walls, broken windows, blood, and graffiti again all too soon.
tammy 4 life
Mar 3, 2012 at 2:16pm
cant we just buy everyone a condo downtown, makes sense to me - we spend 300mil a year in the DTES funding social workers and poverty pimps- thats 600 - $500K condo's a year in ten years that is enough to house the homeless!