Some homeless residents who were offered shelter at one of B.C.’s single-occupancy hotels in Vancouver have been told they have as little as 24 hours to pay rent or vacate.
© Provided by Vancouver Sun Fawn Auger, a resident of the Patricia Hotel in Vancouver, packs her belongings Friday, January 21, 2022 after being given an eviction notice.
Fawn Auger, a tenant of B.C. Housing’s program at the Patricia Hotel was scrambling to pack up her belongings Friday after an eviction notice was slipped under her room’s doorway the previous day.
She held up the notice that stated she owed $3,562.50 in unpaid rent. “You have 24 hours to pack all your belongings and leave,” states the handout from Atira Property Management, the company B.C. commissions to operate the hotel.
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” said Auger, who initially relocated to the city from Edmonton in 2016 to attend college for visual art. “I’ll have to go back to sleeping in a tent. haven’t been able to apply for Income Assistance, I don’t have ID.”
The 30-year-old is one of nearly 300 people the province said it assisted to move indoors from Strathcona Park, where they relocated after the Vancouver Port Authority won a court injunction forcing tenters to leave CRAB Park in April.
Auger, along with others offered supportive housing, say they were told by B.C. Housing outreach workers enlisted to help them that the cost of the hotel would be covered for the first six months of the program.
“Given the urgent need to quickly and safely house people sheltering at Strathcona Park, outreach workers offered indoor spaces to everyone at the park even if they were not receiving government assistance,” B.C. Housing said in an email Friday.
“Once everyone was housed, non-profit staff worked to connect individuals to the appropriate income assistance and rental payment programs.”
However, a wave of evictions continues to sweep tenants of the Downtown Eastside hotel, purchased by the province for $63.8-million in April, back out onto the streets.
“I feel like I was led into a trap,” said tenant Inga Trotskaia, who was ordered to vacate the Patricia on Aug. 8.
Nearly four months after she settled into her room, the 32-year-old was started by an eviction notice taped to her door. Its words gave her a 10-day ultimatum: pay rent or vacate.
“I ended up signing another repayment plan with Atira, which now has me paying $500 a month for 20 months,” she said.
B.C. Housing maintains that, at this time, Atira is not evicting tenants from the Patricia due to non-payment of rent.
However, eviction notices at the hotel seen by Postmedia gave nonpayment of rent as the reason.
Downtown Eastside housing advocates have been vocal about the rent mix-up.
“It seems to be quite a pattern,” said Fiona York. “People were told by outreach workers when they moved into the hotel from the park that they didn’t have to pay for six months but then they got presented with bills for back rent.”
Some tenants who had been handed 24-hour eviction notices have refused to leave the hotel, choosing to instead barricade themselves in their rooms with their belongings.
“I built a community here, I can’t leave,” said one of them, Sasha, who asked that his last name not be used, fearing retaliation.
In an email statement, B.C.’s Housing Ministry told Postmedia the hotel has a rental rate of $375 a month, which is “provided directly through government assistance and residents do not incur a direct cost.”
Of the 297 people housed from the homeless encampment in Strathcona Park, 37 have been evicted so far for reasons the ministry said it couldn’t disclose due to privacy concerns.
Fawn Auger, a tenant of B.C. Housing’s program at the Patricia Hotel was scrambling to pack up her belongings Friday after an eviction notice was slipped under her room’s doorway the previous day.
She held up the notice that stated she owed $3,562.50 in unpaid rent. “You have 24 hours to pack all your belongings and leave,” states the handout from Atira Property Management, the company B.C. commissions to operate the hotel.
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” said Auger, who initially relocated to the city from Edmonton in 2016 to attend college for visual art. “I’ll have to go back to sleeping in a tent. haven’t been able to apply for Income Assistance, I don’t have ID.”
The 30-year-old is one of nearly 300 people the province said it assisted to move indoors from Strathcona Park, where they relocated after the Vancouver Port Authority won a court injunction forcing tenters to leave CRAB Park in April.
Auger, along with others offered supportive housing, say they were told by B.C. Housing outreach workers enlisted to help them that the cost of the hotel would be covered for the first six months of the program.
“Given the urgent need to quickly and safely house people sheltering at Strathcona Park, outreach workers offered indoor spaces to everyone at the park even if they were not receiving government assistance,” B.C. Housing said in an email Friday.
“Once everyone was housed, non-profit staff worked to connect individuals to the appropriate income assistance and rental payment programs.”
However, a wave of evictions continues to sweep tenants of the Downtown Eastside hotel, purchased by the province for $63.8-million in April, back out onto the streets.
“I feel like I was led into a trap,” said tenant Inga Trotskaia, who was ordered to vacate the Patricia on Aug. 8.
Nearly four months after she settled into her room, the 32-year-old was started by an eviction notice taped to her door. Its words gave her a 10-day ultimatum: pay rent or vacate.
“I ended up signing another repayment plan with Atira, which now has me paying $500 a month for 20 months,” she said.
B.C. Housing maintains that, at this time, Atira is not evicting tenants from the Patricia due to non-payment of rent.
However, eviction notices at the hotel seen by Postmedia gave nonpayment of rent as the reason.
Downtown Eastside housing advocates have been vocal about the rent mix-up.
“It seems to be quite a pattern,” said Fiona York. “People were told by outreach workers when they moved into the hotel from the park that they didn’t have to pay for six months but then they got presented with bills for back rent.”
Some tenants who had been handed 24-hour eviction notices have refused to leave the hotel, choosing to instead barricade themselves in their rooms with their belongings.
“I built a community here, I can’t leave,” said one of them, Sasha, who asked that his last name not be used, fearing retaliation.
In an email statement, B.C.’s Housing Ministry told Postmedia the hotel has a rental rate of $375 a month, which is “provided directly through government assistance and residents do not incur a direct cost.”
Of the 297 people housed from the homeless encampment in Strathcona Park, 37 have been evicted so far for reasons the ministry said it couldn’t disclose due to privacy concerns.
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