East Side hotel evictions worry housing advocate
Cheryl Rossi, Vancouver Courier
Published: Friday, January 04, 2008
Fears and frustrations about the city's low-income housing stock continue to grow with evictions and renovations in the Dominion Hotel.

Cameron Gray, director of the city's housing centre, says the worries of housing advocates and low-income tenants with few housing choices are not unfounded.

The city is seeing what housing advocates call "soft conversions."

Vacancy rates in Vancouver are low, rents are rising and more people are choosing to rent a room for $500 or $600 a month instead of paying $800 for a studio, either because they're trying to save money or can't afford to do otherwise, Gray said. "So we're seeing that pressure on the housing stock start to gentrify or revitalize some of the old SROs that are in better locations where people would be prepared to pay that kind of money to rent."

The Dominion Hotel, which includes The Lamplighter Pub, sits on the corner of Abbott and Water streets, not far from the Woodward's development. Water Street Projects bought the Dominion in August and issued eviction notices Oct. 31.

Eric Cohen, spokesperson for Water Street Projects, said when his group took over the building, tenants lived in 23 of the hotel's 66 rooms. The remainder of the rooms couldn't be rented because they were in disrepair. He said the previous owners let up to 40 rooms nightly and the rest monthly. "When we took over, it was basically a one-hour motel and full of drugs and full of lot of problems in the building. We've been trying to get the building under control."

Anna Hunter, a legal advocate for the Downtown Eastside Residents Association, said DERA initially represented 15 tenants of the Dominion who were facing eviction. She says the Sunday before the Monday arbitration hearing at the Residential Tenancy Office, the superintendent of the building offered the tenants an agreement to move. Compensation included assistance with relocation, moving costs, a month's rent, the return of their full damage deposit and the furniture in their rooms. Hunter claims tenants were told they had to decide before the end of the day, which meant they couldn't consult with their advocates at DERA, who don't work on Sundays. Seven or eight of the tenants signed the agreements, she said, gaining little more than they would have under the Residential Tenancy Act.

Hunter said she wasn't aware of any of the tenants securing new housing as a result of the assistance. Cohen said letters of reference were written for worthy tenants and at least one older, unwell man was pleased with the room they helped him find.

Two of the tenants won their arbitrations but on Dec. 28 they received second eviction notices.

Hunter said one of the tenants asked at arbitration that the landlords agree to allow him to move back in once the renovations are complete at the same rate of rent but this request was rejected. Cohen denied hearing such a request.

Some of the rooms at the Dominion include a bathroom and some do not. The rents have been $500 to $700 a month. Gray said the owners are keen to add bathrooms to each room, which would reduce the overall number of units. Such a proposal would have to be approved by city council because the Dominion Hotel falls under its single room accommodation bylaw, which is meant to restrict the loss or conversion of low-income housing stock in residential hotels.

© Vancouver Courier 2008