St. Paul's development may lead to displacement of low-income residents, Swanson says
Credit to Author: Denise Ryan| Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2020 23:08:38 +0000
Vancouver city Coun. Jean Swanson is raising concerns that the new St. Paul’s Hospital development at 1002 Station St. may lead to the displacement of low-income residents currently living in nearby Downtown Eastside SROs.
“The development of this hospital could lead to gentrification in the area,” said Swanson. “There will be hundreds of employees at the hospital who will want to live close to work, and that gives landlords the impetus to get rid of low-paying renters in favour of those that can pay higher rates.”
Although SRO units are protected by the Single Room Accommodation (SRA) bylaw enacted in 2003 with the objective of discouraging investors and developers from buying affordable housing stock for the purpose of speculation, SRO housing stock continues to dwindle, Swanson said.
Developers can bypass the one-to-one replacement of SRO rooms for social housing by paying a $125,000 replacement fee per unit. In addition, said Swanson, developers find different ways to get rid of low-income tenants. Some of the strategies she has seen landlords try include changing locks and requiring residents to pay for expensive fobs, offering low-income tenants cash to move out or doing light renovations and then renting the rooms out as more expensive “micro-suites.”
The recent closures of the Balmoral and Regent hotels resulted in the loss of some 300 shelter-rate rooms in the DTES, and four other SROs, The Pacific Rooms, the Silver Avalon, the Arno Hotel and St. Elmo’s, were recently put up for sale, putting another 180 SRO rooms at-risk, Swanson said.
“One of the hotels was advertised as micro-suites rather than SROs, and they advertised that it was close to the new St. Paul’s,” said Swanson. “In March the homeless count was 2,223, the highest count we’ve ever had in B.C. and the gentrification of the SROs will only make it worse.”
SRO hotels within walking distance of the St. Paul’s development include the Ivanhoe, the Cobalt and Arno hotels, and make up 230 rooms.
Swanson is asking that city council direct staff to report back on how to prevent gentrification and the loss of nearby SRO rooms and low-income housing before construction starts on the new St. Paul’s. And that council consider establishing a public database of SROs and other current low-income housing, and increasing the SRA replacement fee and restrictions on rate-of-change for low-income housing other than SROs.
“It makes good sense and I don’t see any reason council wouldn’t support the motion,” Swanson said.