All remaining tenants of the Luugat SRO Hotel on Granville Street have now moved out, the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs confirmed to Global News.
As of mid-August, B.C. taxpayers were still paying to keep the building open for one remaining resident.
The B.C. government promised to close the Luugat by the end of June, but one tenant remained.
“All residents of the Luugat have been relocated to alternative housing,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that the tenant was relocated from the building last week.
“The final resident’s tenancy has ended and they are now living in other housing, while their remaining belongings are in the process of being moved.”
The late checkout at the former hotel comes with a big bill for taxpayers, including $101,000 for July.
“It may only seem like a couple of months and in the whole scheme of things it may not feel like a big deal to the big provincial government, but the impact in the community every single day is a big deal and… they can do better,” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said.
Global News is waiting for a breakdown of total government spending on the Luugat, since the province purchased the Howard Johnson Hotel property for $55 million in 2020, including operations costs, staffing, repairs and taxes.
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“I do think there are a lot of questions that need to be answered,” Sim said.
“Why did it take so long? How much did it cost? How much is it going to continue to cost as they repurpose the building?”
A past tenant of the building, Vance Hughes, told Global News that once the SRO was turned into social housing, it was quickly destroyed.
He described it as a “cesspool,” saying there were too many drugs.
Despite being told that the media could not tour the inside of the Luugat while a tenant was still residing there, Global News was told we could not tour the Luugat on Wednesday again.
The CEO of Downtown Van said she hopes this closure brings some momentum.
“Now we’re focused on making sure that the process keeps moving and that the province keeps their word and that the folks who are in the other two provincially-owned SROs in the entertainment district are relocated to homes and facilities that suit their needs,” Jane Talbot said.
The province has no timeline for the closure of the St. Helen’s Hotel and Granville Villa SROs.
The future of the former Howard Johnson Hotel is also unclear.
In a statement to Global News, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) said that while the last tenant is now gone, the taxpayers are still waiting for answers.
“The government spent $55 million on the Luugat, spent another $101,000 keeping it open for one tenant in July, and still won’t say what the total bill has been or let the cameras see inside,” the organization said in the statement.
“Taxpayers deserve accountability. The province’s acquisition of the Luugat was a disaster for taxpayers, for the community and for the tenants placed in an unlivable building.”
The CTF said that now the building is empty, there is no excuse for secrecy.
The ministry said that now that housing operations at the Luugat have ceased, Community Builders Group has shifted to a nominally staffed, security-focused model that manages vacant building risks.
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