B.C.’s housing and community safety ministers are promising change after bar owners in Vancouver’s entertainment district claim the province’s decision to purchase a former Howard Johnson hotel to house the homeless changed Granville Street overnight.
In June 2020, the province bought the former 110-room hotel at 1176 Granville Street for $55 million, to house people who’d been living in encampments, including individuals with serious substance use and mental health challenges.
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Open drug use, street disorder and violence have ensued and according to the six operators of multiple nightclubs on or near the Granville Strip, hospitality traffic is down approximately 60 per cent.
Atira continues to operate the supportive housing at what’s now known as the ‘Luugat’ single-room occupancy hotel, or SRO.
“The way this building is being operated is unacceptable,” said ABC Vancouver Coun. Peter Meiszner on Tuesday, as a fire truck rolled down Granville Street with lights and sirens.
Meiszner said the operation of the site needs to be improved in the short term to address the impact of hundreds of water leaks and emergency calls on the neighbourhood, while residents of the building need proper supports.
Over the long term he said, the city is willing to work with the province on a plan to replace the Luugat SRO with new self-contained social housing units.
Former hotel on Granville Street now permanent supportive housing in Downtown Vancouver
“People are living in undignified conditions in a building that’s falling apart all around them and they deserve better and the community deserves better,” Meiszner said in an interview.
The bar operators who witness daily mayhem said Granville Street is the worst it’s been in three decades, as the city prepares to welcome the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
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“There’s nothing worse than a boarded window and all these people showing up for FIFA and where are they going to go, where are they going to feel safe?” said Twelve West Nightclub owner Mike Morissette.
“It certainly ain’t going to be on Granville Street.”
“What we need is a proper plan from the province to deal with the mental health issues and the drug use,” Cabana Nightclub owner Dave Kershaw told Global News.
“Get these people the help they need, that’s not on Granville Street cause that doesn’t make any sense.”
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B.C.’s housing minister maintains it was not a mistake to buy the Howard Johnson in Vancouver’s entertainment district for individuals with complex needs because they were struggling to find housing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We took action at the time to solve a major crisis,” said Ravi Kahlon in an interview.
“In fact, I think that saved a lot of lives. Now we have to do the work to expand opportunities throughout Vancouver and find people the appropriate locations with appropriate supports over time.”
Kahlon said work is already underway to relocate the SRO’s most vulnerable residents but it’s a challenge because there are not enough spaces available.
About 35 of the 85 people living at the Luugat are seniors he said, and they will be prioritized as tenants going forward.
”What we have done is directed BC Housing to start shifting the people that are staying at that site to have it more of a senior focus, and those with complex needs over time will be moved to locations that can better serve them,” the housing minister said.
Restaurant fed up with downtown disorder
Vancouver-Yaletown MLA and BC Minister of State for Community Safety Terry Yung said he’ll be meeting with Granville Street businesses to address their concerns, while immediate assistance announced in the recent budget, is coming.
“As part of the mandate, I’m working across ministries and government to make sure we have a coordinated effort but we are also investing $5 million on a new pilot program for community safety that targets the kind of disorder that’s facing Granville Street in the really short term — so help is on its way,” Yung told Global News.
Meiszner said the city is not giving up on its long-term vision for the Granville strip as a nightlife destination.
“We can’t afford to lose the Granville entertainment district,” said Meiszner. “This is an iconic street for decades.”
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