Nightclub owners on the Granville strip are speaking out about the current state of Vancouver’s entertainment district.
“Here’s some more water damage,” said Alan Goodall, showing CTV News damage caused by water seeping through his ceiling from the supportive housing building above.
“We’ve had at least 200 floods,” said Goodwall, the owner of Aura Nightclub.
Aura is located directly below the Luugat supportive housing building on Granville Street. In 2020, the province purchased the Howard Johnson Hotel for $55 million to help address the city’s growing homeless problem.
Goodall says he’s constantly having to deal with issues in and around his nightclub, including someone trying to break into his club from above.
“They ended up getting stuck in my attic for 10 hours and the fire department had to pull him out by a stretcher,” said Goodall.
“I’ve really noticed the heavy, heavy drug use. And crime’s gone up.”
Goodall’s not alone.
“It’s the worst it’s been. Period,” said Dave Kershaw, owner of Cabana Nightclub across the street.
“When the average person or tourist sees open drug use and homelessness and people are passed out with needles in their arms, it doesn’t give them entertainment district vibes.”
Both Kershaw and Goodall say they sympathize with people with addiction issues but believe housing them together on Granville Street isn’t helping the problem.
“When you put a hundred of them together, those hundred people have friends, and if they’re all drug users, then before you know it you have a real community of people doing drugs,” said Goodall.
“We’re not against people who need social housing,” said Kershaw. “What we’re against is the policies that the government has put in place now, putting them all together, giving them access to drugs, empowering them to be able to do drugs – like they feel like they can do drugs in the open.”
Coun. Peter Meiszner agrees that the Luugat building doesn’t belong in the neighbourhood.
“People aren’t getting the support that they need and the building is in terrible condition,” said Meiszner, a member of Vancouver’s ABC party.
“I’m really calling on BC Housing to accelerate the replacement of this building with self-contained social housing units. And those need to be off of Granville Street.”
Coun. Rebecca Bligh says the building needs improvements and the tenants require more wrap-around services for the neighbourhood to see any meaningful improvement.
“We’ve closed washrooms, we’ve closed overdose prevention sites, we’ve closed mental health supports and mental health response units,” said Bligh, an independent who was recently kicked out of the ABC party.
“So that means we’re seeing more and more of this play out on the street.”
B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon declined a request for an interview but did provide a statement.
“We’re listening to concerns and BC Housing is working with partners to look at Luugat and make changes,” said Kahlon.
“Adjusting this mix of tenants takes time, and it shows how it’s important for us to be focusing our efforts on creating new complex care housing in Vancouver, and across the province.”
Kahlon did not provide a timeline or details on what changes could be coming to Luugat.
Meanwhile Goodall hopes changes come soon so the strip can thrive once again.
‘It’s destroying Granville Street,” he said.
