BC NDP reviewing SRO maintenance model, BC Liberals say action needed now

British Columbia’s housing minister says the government has commissioned an independent review of the way single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels are operated in the province.

SROs house many of Vancouver’s most vulnerable low-income people. Many were built in the early 1900s and have become notorious for poor living conditions.

Earlier this week, Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services revealed it had received more than 500 calls from a single SRO last year, while residents of another facility revealed “disgusting” conditions at the Sakura So SRO on Powell Street.

Speaking with Global’s Focus BC, Ravi Kahlon acknowledged the state of some of the city’s SROs is not acceptable and “hard to see.”

Kahlon said the province’s primary goal is to move away from SROs and towards long-term housing. In the interim, however, he said the province has ordered a review through BC Housing of the way SROs are operated and maintained.

2:00 Operator of Vancouver SRO reacts to cleanliness complaints

Some SROs are privately owned and operated, and some are owned by the province and operated by BC Housing. Others are owned by the province and maintained under public-private partnerships (P3s).

The P3 initiative was launched in 2012 as the province sought a way to finance the renovation and restoration of more than a dozen hotels it had purchased since 2007.

Those contracts included restoring the buildings, along with operations and maintenance for the life of the asset to ensure the quality of the construction.

Kahlon said he wouldn’t pre-judge the upcoming review, but “my instincts tell me that a model where profits are being made off of trying to house the most vulnerable people is not the best way to go.”

“Now we’re in a position where we’ve heard complaints, we’ve heard from residents and we’ve made that decision to get an independent analysis done,” he added.

“What advocates have told us is there’s real challenges there and its hard to get proper responses under this P3 model.”

The review was actually ordered by former housing minister and now-Premier David Eby back in August, and is expected to get underway next month. It was not immediately clear how long it is expected to take.

Global News is seeking clarification on the review from the housing ministry.

2:18 Vancouver SRO hotel resident complains of ‘unliveable’ conditions

BC Liberal mental health and addictions critic Elenore Sturko, meanwhile, accused the NDP government of stalling on an issue that demands immediate action.

“Frankly I was disgusted — I saw video that clearly showed uninhabitable circumstances and absolute inhumane conditions,” she said of the Sakura So SRO.

“I can’t think of a single person I have ever met in my life that would understand that would be acceptable.”

Sturko pointed to an existing BC Housing report on the P3 model of SRO maintenance that was produced in 2018, a year after the NDP took power.

That report came to predominantly favourable conclusions about the P3 model, including “good value for money.”

However, it highlighted several “challenges,” including the responsibility for any “abnormal wear and tear” outside of the initial maintenance contract falling to of BC Housing or non-profit operators. It also identified renovation, maintenance and utility connection delays linked to permit issues and construction timelines.

Sturko said the NDP has long had all the information it needs to improve conditions in Vancouver’s SROs, yet conditions have steadily declined over the last five years.

“I’ve only been in public office for not even half a year yet, and I think this is probably the fourth or fifth study or review or audit I have heard of,” she said.

“It doesn’t take a special report to see a bathtub full of feces and realize something is wrong.”

2:14 Safety concerns after hundreds of false alarms at Vancouver SRO hotel

The current conditions in B.C.’s SROs do not simply reflect problems with maintenance, she alleged, but also reflect insufficient health, mental health and addictions services for the people living in them.

Kahlon pegged the deteriorating conditions on an underinvestment in housing by both the federal and provincial governments over the last two decades.

He said the NDP significantly increased funding for housing, but the process has been slow, and units are only now starting to be built, with 7,000 slated to become available in the next 12 to 18 months.