Gordon Goes Shopping

$80M pledged to target homelessness in B.C.

Last Updated: Tuesday, April 3, 2007 | 12:11 PM PT
CBC News

The B.C. government has announced it will spend $80 million to buy 11 single room occupancy (SRO) hotels in Vancouver and Victoria, and to fund more supportive housing units in the Lower Mainland.

Ten of the hotels are in Vancouver, most of them in the city's troubled Downtown Eastside. Government ownership means tenants of the hotels won't be evicted by developers moving into the hard-pressed neighbourhood.

In making the announcement in Vancouver on Tuesday, Premier Gordon Campbell called it the "largest single acquisition of housing stock" in B.C. history.

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