Residents of a Vancouver social housing facility are questioning why it’s taking so long to install air conditioning units sitting stacked in the building’s basement.
Dozens of brand-new portable air conditioners are currently being stored at the Hotel Canada, a BC Housing owned building operated by the non-profit Atira Women’s Resource Society.
BC Housing bought 150 of the units for the building, which are meant to improve poor air circulation, earlier this summer. But weeks later just 60 have been installed.
“They should have been installed when they said they were going to, when they did the notices last month,” resident David Black told Global News.
“They said they were going to start installing them last month in the first week or whatever. Nothing happened for like the whole month, right? It’s moving slowly, it’s moving really, really slow.”
Black added that many tenants have to prop their doors open because windows in the building can only be opened a crack.
Resident Jessica Buckley said an air conditioner had been installed in her unit last week, after a one-month wait.
“It was hot. Really hot,” she said.
“They should be all installed. It should be done now, don’t you think?”
A contractor installing the units, who would not go on camera, told Global News the work is taking longer than usual because conditions in the units are often very bad, and that little advanced work is being done before they show up to do the installation.
Atira interim CEO Catherine Roome said the installation work is being managed by BC Housing and its contractors, but that she believes crews are doing their best to get the work done as fast as possible.
But she said the work is challenging, because the building is 110 years old and the residents are a vulnerable group.
“I am sympathetic to maintenance contractors simply trying to do their work, and they’re, we’re about one-third of the way through installing the air conditioners on behalf of BC Housing,” she said.
“We are talking about people that have complex needs and they have privacy needs — I mean this is their home, whatever state that that home is, and yes, we have health and safety and security issues in these buildings. It’s a complex negotiation.”
Roome said the situation highlights the need for the province to move away from “really old, decrepit buildings” that require costly short-term maintenance, and towards purpose-built housing with better wraparound supports.
BC Housing did not make someone available for an interview. In a statement, it said the units arrived in late July and early August.
“Prior to installation, each unit requires some electrical modifications, so the room’s power capacity won’t be impacted and to ensure tenant safety,” the housing agency said.
It added it expects the work to be complete by mid-September.
In the meantime, some residents like Chris — who declined to give his last name — are left waiting in frustration.
“It’s really challenging, it’s been really hot this summer,” he said.
“I think its absolutely ridiculous. If they’re there, stacked up in the basement and all that — it’s nothing to it to install it I would say, I can install it myself really if they give it to me.”
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