Tenants and advocates in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside are sounding the alarm about what they say is a “foreclosure crisis” affecting single-room occupancy buildings in the neighbourhood. The Downtown Eastside SRO Collaborative held a news conference and community barbecue at the corner of Gore Avenue and Union Street on Tuesday to call attention to the issue. “It is a crisis,” said the collaborative’s founder and executive director Wendy Pedersen, at the event. “When new landlords like this one at the West Hotel take over, we do see changes that don’t necessarily benefit the tenants and could lead to homelessness and more street disorder.” In a news release, the organization said residents of West Hotel have faced “months of landlord pressure” to move out, and listed eight other privately owned SRO buildings currently facing foreclosure proceedings. Between foreclosures and private sales, more than 400 rooms are likely to come under new ownership in the coming years, according to the release. The group is calling on all levels of government to act quickly and create a permanent “SRO Acquisition Fund” that would allow community land trusts and non-profit organizations to buy buildings that are offered for sale.
