Province buys single-room occupancy hotels to house the poor: $80 million | News

[mr.x]

Housing the needy
Province buys single-room occupancy hotels to house the poor

MAURICE BRIDGE, Vancouver Sun
Published: Tuesday, April 03, 2007

The province has purchased 10 single-room occupancy hotels in Vancouver and an 11th in Victoria to protect the stock of affordable housing. The $45-million purchase totals 623 rooms.

At a Vancouver news conference today, Premier Gordon Campbell said no tenants will be displaced during the renovation of the hotels, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Housing Minister Rich Coleman said renovations are expected to cost between $5,000 and $15,00 per unit.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, who attended the news conference, said he will recommend the city contribute the $5 million it had earmarked for SRO preservation to the provincial initiative.

Sullivan said the announcement marks "the day we began to turn the tide" in the fight to preserve affordable housing at the lower end of the economic sale.

The following single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels, with a total of 623 rooms, have been purchased by the province in Vancouver and Victoria.

Vancouver:
Marble Arch Hotel
518 Richards St.
Rooms: 145

St. Helens Hotel
1161/63 Granville St.
Rooms: 98

Carl Rooms
Address: 355 Princess St.
Rooms: 47

The Rice Block
404 Hawks St.
Rooms: 43

Molson's Bank Building
166 E. Hastings St.
Rooms: 45

The Park Hotel Apartments
429/433 W. Pender St.
Rooms: 56

Walton Hotel
261-265 E. Hastings St.
Rooms: 51

Orange Hall
329-341 Gore Ave.
Rooms: 27

Orwell Hotel
465 E. Hastings
Rooms: 55

Savoy Hotel
258-260 E. Hastings St.
Rooms: 28


Victoria:

Pandora Hotel
715-717 Pandora St.
Rooms: 28

[mr.x]

Of course, it's never enough for them.....




Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Activists Continue Protesting Vancouver 2010 Over Homelessness
Posted 2:43 pm ET (GamesBids.com)

CBC reports that the Anti-Poverty Committee (APC), a Vancouver activist group, is continuing its protests with the city and the province of British Columbia over homelessness leading up to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, despite the Province’s promise Tuesday of $80 million for affordable housing.

The Province is providing $80 million to purchase 15 buildings, mostly single-room-occupancy hotels, which will provide nearly 1,000 units for the homeless. The project reportedly includes developing new social housing on three properties owned by the city. Officials said it is the largest single commitment to social housing in the history of British Columbia.

APC spokeswoman Anna Hunter said the $80 million promised by the Province’s Premier Gordon Campbell is not enough – that it’s simply old money for old buildings. She said the homeless need new money for new buildings and that her group believes the protests are starting to pay off and there will be more of them as the battle has not yet been won.

She said, “definitely, the APC will not let off. You know, we have seen the impacts and the positive effects of the work that we are doing and we will continue to intensify it”.

The CBC quotes activist Jean Swanson of Carnegie Community Action Project saying that the APC is on the right track. “I think the fact they (the government) have purchased these hotels shows that some of the pressure is working, but I think we have to keep it up.”

The Premier says the APC protests were not a factor in the government’s decision to commit the $80 million for affordable housing. He added the committee’s tactics don’t’ work, and in fact may work against its stated goal of helping the homeless. He said, “I don’t think the protesters have helped their cause. I think they take away from it”.

Judy Graves, the coordinator of Vancouver’s tenant assistance program, told CBC Radio Wednesday the evictions of tenants from single room occupancy hotels is not the result of the 2010 Winter Games. She said, “the problems we’re having with homelessness are not really caused by the Olympics. They are caused by increasing property values”.

[zivan56]

Why do these people need to live in Vancouver, especially downtown? It's a privilege to live in downtown Vancouver, where people pay millions for an apartment, and these people want to live there for free (or close to it).
There is affordable housing, it's called a CO-OP, and they are located even in the most expensive areas of the city.
Why not just build these in places where property value is really low? So Abotsford for example would be ideal. They also require a supply of unskilled labour, for which these people appear to be suited for (why would you live in DTES otherwise?), and unlike Vancouver would be able to provide more jobs for which these people.
I fail to see how letting these people stay in DTES will help them recover from whatever issue they have, in fact, this will only make drug use stay at the current level or go up.