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British Columbia Buys 'Poverty Hotels'

Posted by: Nate Berg

5 April 2007 - 10:00am

The provincial government in British Columbia has purchased 11 residential hotels in an effort to improve its handling of a rapidly increasing homeless population.

"The B.C. government's announcement that it was purchasing 10 residential hotels in Vancouver and one in Victoria caught housing advocates and even provincial insiders off guard, yesterday."

"The City of Vancouver has Canada's fastest-growing homeless population, a trend fuelled in part by a recent buying binge in which real estate developers have been acquiring single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels for conversion to other uses. Housing advocates who spoke to The Tyee yesterday said the newly announced $80 million shopping spree will buy the City of Vancouver a few months of sorely needed breathing room to help cope with the problem."

"'It's depressing if you live in a hotel,' said Mark Townsend, who directs the Portland Hotel Society. 'It could be sold at any moment and you could be chucked out. So for the people living in these hotels, this is good news. And hopefully, it means these buildings are going to be better maintained.'"

Full Story: Province Snaps Up Poverty Hotels
Source: The Tyee, April 4, 2007
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