Vancouver mayor calls for end of privately run SROs after Gastown fire

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart is calling for an end of privately operated single-resident occupancy hotels after this week’s devastating four-alarm fire in Gastown.

The flames broke out on the second floor of the Winters Hotel at 203 Abbot Street on Monday morning. Vancouver’s Fire Chief said one person jumped from the burning building. The charred building frame will need to be demolished.

You might also like:
• Two Gastown SROs to be demolished after devastating fire (PHOTOS)
• City of Vancouver reaches settlement to expropriate Balmoral and Regent hotels
• Several people rescued after structure fire in Gastown (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Like many other SROs in Vancouver, Stewart said the old hotel was well past its intended use. He’s worried the poor conditions in many Vancouver SROs have become dangerous for residents and commercial tenants alike.

The building is privately-owned, but leased and operated by Atira Property Management, part of an organization dedicated to ending violence against women.

Atira’s CEO Janice Abbott said she wasn’t prepared to comment on the matter of private or public operation Tuesday, as she was focused on finding shelter and essential items for the 140 or so residents displaced by the fire.

Stewart wants to enact an end date for privately run SROs in the city and make housing for vulnerable individuals government-owned and operated instead.

“These buildings are old, and they were not built for their current use … Now that we have people permanently living in these buildings conducting regular lives that are not resource-sector based, they’re well past their date.”

The downtown hotels feature small rooms with single beds, and residents share a bathroom down the hall. They were initially built for loggers coming to Vancouver but are now often used to house vulnerable individuals who may otherwise face homelessness.

Many of the hotels are notorious for their dirty and unsafe conditions. In 2020, the City of Vancouver reached an agreement to expropriate the Balmoral and Regent hotels from the Sahota family — who own many of Vancouver’s SROs.

After Monday’s fire sent five people to the hospital, Stewart believes that time is up for other privately run SROs. He thinks government ownership could mean safety standards are better maintained, and he’s in discussions with provincial and federal ministers to make that happen.

In the meantime, emergency housing has been secured for all displaced residents of the  Winters Hotel and neighbouring Gastown Hotel.