Vancouver to offer up land in bid to move SROs from Granville Entertainment District
Vancouver city council has unanimously approved an amendment to the city's 20-year Granville Street Plan aimed at shaking up SRO housing in the area.
The amendment directs staff to work with BC Housing and the province to offer up city-owned sites to replace existing single room occupancy (SRO) and supportive housing units in the non-residential Entertainment Core area with 'modern, dignified, self-contained housing, with robust wraparound services.'
Tabled by ABC Coun. Peter Meiszner, the amendment relates to publicly-owned buildings between Smithe and Davie Streets in the Granville Entertainment District (GED).
4:00
Vancouver bar owners ask for help to deal with SRO damages
'The city will come to the table with some free land,' Meiszner told Global News in an interview Wednesday. 'We're looking for provincial and federal government funding to transition these units off of Granville Street.'
Story continues below advertisement
The initial report to council on the Granville Street Plan proposed restricting new residential uses in the three-block Entertainment Core where current SROs 'will be replaced over time and SRO and tenant relocation would be secured off-site.'
Get daily National news
Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
According to the City of Vancouver, there are eight Single Room Accommodation (SRA) buildings containing roughly 600 rooms on the Granville Strip.
Many are privately owned, while others are social and supportive housing projects owned by the city and the provincial government.
Those living in the old Howard Johnson at 1976 Granville Street, which was purchased by the province in June 2020 and transitioned to temporary supportive housing during the COVID-19 pandemic, said they've endured chaos inside.
'It's horrible,' said Luugat resident Debora Taylor. 'My next door neighbour, who is in the mental hospital now, she set a fire in my room and after that, two floods.'
'This building's got to be knocked down because there's so much flooding,' said Stephen Keith Walsh.
Walsh, who said he is on two wait lists for housing, is currently sleeping outside Aura Nightclub, which is on the ground level of the former Howard Johnson building.
Aura has experienced constant flooding from the units above it, and even Walsh, whose ex-partner lives in the Luugat supportive housing, questions the decision to move people from encampments into the former hotel.
Story continues below advertisement
'Why would they, BC Housing, pick up all these people off the street and put them in a brand new building when these people haven't even (gone) through any kind of screening or anything,' Walsh told Global News in an interview. 'They just throw them into a place — half of these people, you see the rooms, they're destroyed.'
2:33
SRO resident rescued from Vancouver nightclub air duct
As to when the Howard Johnson rooms will be decommissioned, B.C.'s housing minister said the challenge is always where to move people.
'From the BC Housing perspective, we go to wherever there's an opportunity,' said Ravi Kahlon. 'If the council decides that there (are) better locations and they are able to approve them for us, we certainly will consider those options, but at this point we have to go with what we have.'
Tyler, who lives in the Dominion Hotel SRO in Gastown and declined to provide his last name, said buildings to house vulnerable people have to go somewhere.
Story continues below advertisement
'It can't all be downtown East End, or in that one on East 2nd Avenue, it's got to be all over the place, people got to have somewhere safe to go,' Tyler said.
After dealing with more than 200 floods in the last five years from the former Howard Johnson rooms above his club, Aura owner Alan Goodall has a suggestion for the design of any new supportive housing builds.
'They need to have rooms that are basically tiled with a drain in the middle of it because as sure as you're born, the sprinkler heads are going to go off,' Goodall told Global News. 'They need rooms that are almost bomb-proof.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
19 minutes ago
- Global News
Tesla shares plunge as investors concerned over Musk, Trump feud
Investors bought hundreds of billions of dollars of Tesla stock after Donald Trump was elected on a bet that politics were more important than profits. In three hours Thursday, they learned yet again how dangerous that gamble could be. Shares of Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker plunged more than 14 per cent in a stunning wipeout as investors dumped holdings amid a bitter war of words between the president and the world's richest man. By the end of the trading day, US$150 billion of Tesla's value had been erased, more than what it would take to buy all the shares of Starbucks and hundreds of other big publicly traded U.S. companies. In after-hours trading, Tesla shares rose 0.8 per cent. The disagreement started over the president's budget bill, then quickly turned nasty. After Musk said that Trump wouldn't haven't gotten elected without his help, Trump implied that he may turn the federal government against his companies, including Tesla and SpaceX. Story continues below advertisement 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,' Trump wrote on his social messaging service Truth Social. 'I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' 1:17 Trump 'very disappointed' in Elon Musk after billionaire calls his budget bill an 'abomination' The drop on Thursday partially reversed a big runup in the eight weeks since Musk confirmed that Tesla would be testing an autonomous, driverless 'robotaxi' service in Austin, Texas, this month. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Investors fear Trump might not be in such a rush to usher in a future of self-driving cars in the U.S., and that could slam Tesla. So much of its real business selling electric cars is struggling now and so it needs the promise of a new age of driverless cars to be realized— and fast. 'The whole goal of robotaxis is to have them in 20 or 25 cities next year,' said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, one of Tesla's biggest fans, but now worried. 'If you start to heighten the regulatory environment, that could delay that path.' Story continues below advertisement He added, 'There is a fear that Trump is not going to play Mr. Nice Guy.' Trump's threat to cut government contracts seems targeted more to another of Musk's businesses, SpaceX, than his car company. The privately held rocket company has received billions of dollars for sending astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station, providing launches and doing other work for NASA. The company is currently racing to develop a mega rocket for the space agency to send astronauts to moon next year. A subsidiary of SpaceX, the satellite internet company Starlink, appears to also have benefited from Musk's once-close relationship with the president. On a trip with Trump to the Middle East last month, Musk announced that Saudi Arabia had approved Starlink for aviation and maritime use. Though its not clear how much politics has played a role, a string of other recent deals in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and elsewhere has come as Trump has threatened tariffs and sent diplomats scrambling to please the president. One measure of SpaceX's success: A private financing round followed by a private sale of shares in recent months reportedly valued it at an US$350 billion, up from an estimated US$210 billion a year ago. 3:05 'He's flat out wrong': Musk's comments on Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' stirs ire of Republicans Now all that is possibly in danger. Tesla shares got even a bigger lift from Musk's close relationship with Trump, initially at least. Story continues below advertisement After the presidential election in November, investors rushed into the stock, adding more than US$450 billion to its value in a few weeks. The belief was that the company would see big riches as Trump eased regulatory oversight of Tesla. They also were betting that the new administration would embrace Musk's plans for millions of cars on U.S. roads without drivers behind the wheel. After hitting an all-time high on Dec. 17, the shares retreated as Musk's time as head of a government cost-cutting group led to boycotts and a hit to Tesla's reputation. They've recently popped higher again after Musk vowed to focus more on Tesla and its upcoming driverless taxi launch. Now investors aren't so sure, a worry that has translated into big paper losses in Tesla stock held by Musk personally — down US$20 billion for the day.
Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
Canada, China to regularize communication after Carney, Li talks
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese Premier Li Qiang have agreed to regularize channels of communication between the two countries. A readout from Carney's office also says the leaders committed to working together to address the fentanyl crisis. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Canada and China have been involved in a trade dispute. China has imposed tariffs on Canadian canola oil and meal, peas and seafood in retaliation to Canadian levies on Chinese-made electric vehicles, steel and aluminum. In his conversation with Li, Carney raised the issue of trade affecting agriculture and agri-food products, including canola and seafood, as well as other issues. Carney said earlier this week that Ottawa is working urgently to remove Chinese tariffs on Canadian agriculture and seafood products.
National Observer
an hour ago
- National Observer
Keynote address from OPEC head to kick off Global Energy Show in Calgary
More than 30,000 people from 100 countries are expected to descend on the white-collar heart of Canada's oilpatch next week for the Global Energy Show, which is to kick off with a keynote address from the head of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPEC secretary-general Haitham al-Ghais is set to deliver remarks on Tuesday morning, as recent output increases from his group's members and other producers have put pressure on global crude prices. Among the other speakers are 20 chief executives from major Canadian and international energy companies and several political leaders, including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Energy show organizers say Calgary is expecting a 30 per cent increase in hotel bookings for the conference and trade show, and that exhibition space has been increased by one fifth year-over year. Nick Samain, senior vice-president at DMG Events, said as of two weeks before the event, pre-registrations were 78 per cent higher than last year. He says the show is seeing a big turnaround since the oil bust of 2015 and the COVID-19 pandemic. "There's a sense of optimism that the show really hasn't had in a long time," Samain said in an interview. "Operationally, we've been going crazy to make sure we've got enough room for everybody." The exhibition hall in the newly refurbished BMO Centre on the Calgary Stampede grounds is to feature a record 11 country pavilions and 500 company booths. The event was called the Global Petroleum Show until 2020, when it was rebranded to highlight the growing number of non-oil-and-gas participants in the energy space, such as nuclear and renewables firms. Samain said at the trade show, oil and gas makes up about 70 per cent of exhibitors, with other forms of energy making up the rest. The conference comes as US President Donald Trump's tariff war throws global trade into disarray, raising the prospect of a global downturn that could dampen energy demand. The trade strife has driven calls for Canada to diversify its export markets for its energy products beyond its biggest customer, the United States, and remove some of the logjams that have prevented infrastructure from being built over the past several years. Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised to speed up and simplify the regulatory process for projects deemed in the national interest. Samain said the show is an opportunity for people to hash out competing views about Canada's energy future. "We're just big proponents of people meeting face to face," he said. "We find when people get together at an event like this, it really does (give) the opportunity for people maybe to see a different perspective." A week after the Global Energy Show, another major event drawing dignitaries from abroad is to take place in a popular recreation area in the Rocky Mountains an hour west of Calgary. Canada is to host leaders from the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy and the European Union at the G7 summit from June 15 to 17 in Kananaskis.
