Lucky Lodge tenants given legal standing by City of Vancouver

VANCOUVER April 12.

The City of Vancouver set an important legal precedent today when it granted 11 tenants of the Lucky Lodge hotel the right to appear before a business license panel reviewing the potential closure of their downtown eastside accommodations.

The residents are the first ever third parties to be granted standing by a business panel in Vancouver - normally, only the business license holder is allowed to be heard.

However, today a panel of three City of Vancouver councilors including Ladner, Chow and Lee, agreed to also hear from the tenants, who fear they will be evicted and become homeless if the City shuts down their hotel.

The tenants, represented by Pivot Legal Society lawyer David Eby, may now make submissions about conditions that should be placed on the license in order to improve the operation of the building and ensure its continued, legal operation. City Council may set a variety of conditions, including ordering new management, as alternatives to removing the operating license of the hotel.

“I have been living at the Lucky Lodge for 21 years,” says Victor Callaway, a 60 year-old who moved to BC from Quebec in 1945, and who lives on $700 per month. “I don’t know where I will go if this place closes. I am a law abiding citizen, been living here for a long time, and I can’t find a room. I am under a lot of stress because this place might close.”

Today’s precedent is particularly important because a similar license hearing is expected soon for the Astoria Hotel, whose tenants are also represented by Pivot Legal Society. A total of 132 people live in the Lucky Lodge (48) and the Astoria (84) hotel. The 36 room Pender Hotel closed two weeks ago. Last week, the Burns Block building at 18 West Hastings Street was closed by the city for fire violations, and approximately 20 tenants were evicted.

“There is some kind of a push on right now to close hotels that are identified as ‘problems,’” says Eby. “The real problem is that when the city closes these hotels, there is nowhere left for the tenants to live. Vancouver is simply not building enough affordable housing to replace what they are closing through their enforcement efforts. They have the tools available to them to repair these buildings without closing them.”

Ensuring that housing for low-income individuals would not be adversely affected by the development pressures surrounding the Olympics was one of the key commitments made by the City of Vancouver in its application to host the 2010 Olympics.

Important upcoming dates: May 2, 9:30 a.m. – Business license hearing for the Lucky Lodge hotel.

Location: City Hall

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Further Comment:

David Eby (778) 865-7997