Skip to main content

The Regent Hotel in Vancouver on July 9, 2017.BEN NELMS/The Globe and Mail

The City of Vancouver has asked a prosecutor to approve nearly 500 more charges against the owners of a dilapidated single-room occupancy hotel to prevent the type of mass eviction that occurred earlier this year at another property owned by the same family.

The city outlined allegations related to the Regent Hotel, a building in the Downtown Eastside owned by a company controlled by the Sahota family, in a news release issued on Tuesday. The city says it has already filed almost 70 charges against the owners of the property under standards and maintenance bylaws and has asked prosecutors to approve another 493. The alleged violations range from rotting walls and floors to faulty plumbing.

The Sahotas' other properties include the Balmoral, which has been empty since the summer, when the city ordered more than 100 tenants to vacate the nine-storey building because it was unsafe. A court appearance related to the Balmoral scheduled for Tuesday was delayed by a week.

Paul Mochrie, deputy city manager, said the additional allegations against the Regent, which sits across the street from the Balmoral, followed an inspection in September.

"We've seen the consequences for the Balmoral – which are obviously an outcome we're looking to avoid, having all those people be evicted on very short notice," Mr. Mochrie said of the new charges waiting to be approved. "We're investing a huge amount of time in the Regent trying to ensure that it doesn't get to the same state, using the tools that the city has available to it."

The city says it is also receiving regular updates on the Regent's structural integrity from contractors hired to build temporary bracing and supports after damage was discovered from long-term leaking.

If found guilty of the bylaw charges, the owners could face fines from $250 to a maximum of $10,000 for each infraction.

None of the family members responded to Globe requests for comment on Tuesday.

The problems at the Balmoral Hotel on East Hastings Street have focused scrutiny on the single-room occupancy hotels, or SROs, that house the city's poorest residents. Many of the privately owned SROs in the city have become notorious for squalid conditions. Sahota-owned buildings have generated headaches for city, police and fire departments for decades and are fixtures on the city's problem-landlord database, which tracks bylaw violations such as fire safety and maintenance problems.

Community advocates question whether the latest charges will ensure that landlords do necessary repairs and criticized the city for taking too long to address serious problems at the building.

Wendy Pedersen, a tenant organizer with the DTES SRO Collective, said the city should use a clause in its bylaws to undertake the necessary repairs at the Balmoral and the Regent, then bill the owners. She said the Sahotas have hired a contractor to repair the Regent, whose 153 units house about 200 people, but she does not know how long that work will continue without constant oversight from the city.

Entrepreneurs, developers and more affluent residents have been moving into Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside at an accelerating rate. Activist Fraser Stuart says the changes are displacing longer-term residents.

The Canadian Press

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe