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The City of Vancouver has officially launched a process to address two of the worst housing projects in the Downtown Eastside.
On July 25, the city filed a legal notice to "expropriate" the Balmoral Hotel and the Regent Hotel, both located on Block 100 of East Hastings Street, just outside the city. west of Main Street.
The two hotels belong to the Sahota family, an older trio of brothers and sisters who for decades has been a thorn in Vancouver's foot. As the city notes in its July 30 announcement of the expropriation process, the Sahotas stubbornly refused to keep low-income buildings in acceptable or even sanitary conditions. "19659002" Despite years of enforcement efforts by the city and hundreds of fees currently before the courts, homeowners have not made the basic investments necessary to maintain security and a acceptable standard of living for tenants in these two buildings, "reads. "Given the ongoing mismanagement and critical housing shortage for low-income Vancouver residents, the city is now taking steps to acquire direct ownership of both properties to provide housing in the Downtown Eastside. . " The notice of expropriation is the first step in the process of expropriation that aims to transfer these two properties to public property.
The city confirmed on June 20 that the Regent Hotel, located at 160 East Hastings, had long been suspected. The street was to close: a year earlier, the city had declared that the Balmoral Hotel, located at 159 East Hastings Street, was "dangerous to live in" and that between the two buildings, more than 200 tenants had been forced to move
. The release of the city states that the Sahotas now have 30 days to request a review of the government's request to expropriate the Balmoral and Regent hotels, which sit directly across the street. The expropriation will be submitted to the city council for debate. "If it is approved by the council, the city will pay a value based on independent valuations for both buildings and the property will be transferred."
The Sahotas will then have one year to file a cost claim. The city intends to pay for the buildings. If the family disputes the amounts offered by the city, the case will be brought to court.
"The Public Takeover of Balmoral and Regent Hotels Will Protect Important Low-Income Housing in the Downtown Eastside and Could Provide Opportunity to Meet the Long-Standing Objectives of Replacing Single-Occupancy Hotels with Social Housing autonomous, "reads the city's press release. "The Housing Vancouver strategy has identified the revitalization of SROs as a priority area to improve the living conditions of low income Vancouver residents, and the provincial and federal governments have also identified as priorities the expansion and renovation projects. improved housing for low-income residents. " [19659010L'hotelBalmoralestsituatedinDowntownEastsideau159EastHastingsStreetJustfacesandnewRegentHotelsituated160EastHastingsStreet
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The publication adds that the city will work with the highest levels of government to identify other opportunities for revitalization of other private SROs similar to Balmoral and Regent
"Over the next 10 years, the city aims to replace 50% of the remaining private OARs (about 2,000 rooms) with new social housing and / or support, housing that is urgently needed. housing advocates who have long advocated for a level of government to support Balmoral and Regent hotels, legal and bureaucratic requirements on the part of low-income tenants and those most at risk of homelessness; a process of expropriation will most likely mean that both buildings ts will remain empty on East Hastings Block 100 for at least the next two years.
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