A plan to move single-room occupancy buildings — or SROs — out of the Granville Entertainment District (GED) is starting at the Luugat in the former Howard Johnson Hotel in downtown Vancouver.
Residents were notified this week that the facility will be closed by June 2026, with BC Housing saying it will work with the tenants and operator Community Builders Group to provide them with alternative housing and supports.
“The province has been working on plans to replace single-room occupancy units over the longer term and is evaluating future options for the St. Helen’s Hotel and Granville Villa,” the Ministry of Housing and BC Housing said in a statement to CityNews.
No notices have been handed to residents at those two other SRO facilities — and the province says there are no immediate plans to do so — but work on the Luugat SRO site is already in development.
Members of the Hospitality Vancouver Association say they are breathing a sigh of relief after years of violence, break-ins, open drug use, and street disorder.
“We are looking to rebuild this important and historic part of our provincial entertainment, music, arts, and culture mix,” said association spokesperson Laura Ballance, calling the area an important economic generator for our city.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says supportive housing does not belong in the Granville Entertainment District and says the closure is a step forward.
“The province has informed us that these facilities will be closed and that the residents within those facilities will not be located elsewhere in the GED,” Sim said.
“We will continue to hold them to their word.”
Harm-reduction advocate Guy Felicella says the closure wasn’t necessarily a surprise. He says he hopes residents will be provided with the proper support during the transition.
“In 2010, when the Olympics came to British Columbia, they did move people out of the Downtown Eastside,” Felicella said.
“I’m often concerned with… FIFA that’s coming here as well, if this is part of it. I know they say it isn’t, but one would have to assume that that’s on their radar as well.”
The province says tenants will likely be moved to different homes at different times in the coming months, depending on need and the availability of housing.
— With files from Renee Bernard.