Operator of Winters Hotel in Vancouver, where fire killed 2, says more money can't make aging buildings safe

The society that operated the Winters Hotel in Vancouver where a fire killed two people two years ago says no "reasonable" amount of money can fix aging single-room occupancy buildings to make them safe.

The Atira Women's Resource Society, which operated the Gastown rooming hotel at the time of the 2022 fire, said it fully supports recommendations made Monday by the jury in a coroner's inquest into the deaths.

They include phasing out public funding for single-room occupancy hotels in privately owned buildings and ramping up fire safety bylaw enforcement.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that no reasonable investment in these buildings will ensure the health and safety of staff and tenants," Atira said, adding it is now up to the province to "fund supportive social housing to the level that guarantees safety."

The society said in a statement that B.C. Housing should prioritize purpose-built housing and other long-term solutions moving forward.

"We have worked hard since then to improve safety in all the buildings that house our tenants, including ensuring all staff have appropriate training and resources in place in the event of another life-threatening emergency.

"We believe that when there is a commitment by government to fund supportive social housing to the level that guarantees safety, it would be an investment in the future."

Jury makes 25 recommendations

The Winters Hotel was operated by Atira with funding from B.C. Housing, but owned by Peter Plett.

The inquest jury made 25 recommendations addressed to B.C. Housing, the Ministry of Public Safety, the City of Vancouver, the provincial housing ministry, the Vancouver Police Department, Vancouver Coastal Health and Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services.

The recommendations to B.C. Housing include making lease agreements that hold building operators to higher standards than minimum fire code requirements.

About 70 tenants were living in the building when lit candles left on a bed started the fire on April 11, 2022. It swept through the building, killing Mary Ann Garlow and Dennis Guay, whose bodies were found in the rubble more than a week after the blaze.

The jury ruled the deaths of Garlow, 63, and Guay 53, as accidental, caused by thermal injuries and smoke inhalation.

The jury heard the old structure was not designed with the same protections to slow the spread of fire that come in more modern buildings. Its sprinkler system didn't work on the morning of the blaze because it hadn't been reset since a smaller fire three days earlier.

A report to city council last year said there were 146 single-room occupancy buildings operating as of January 2023, with around 6,500 rooms. 

The report said nearly half of the buildings are privately owned, and nine buildings since 2019 had been "closed due to fires or city orders for unsafe conditions."

Housing minister backs recommendations

Following the recommendations, B.C.'s housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said he agreed the province needs to shift away from accommodating vulnerable people in privately owned rooming hotels.

"We definitely need to move away from the private SROs over time. Doing that just overnight is a challenge, given that we do have people living in them, and we need to make sure people have housing available,'' Kahlon said.

"But we've said for many years now that type of housing is not the type of housing we want people to live in," he said.

"We need to work together with the City of Vancouver and the federal government, to reform how SROs are in our communities, and have housing that's better suited for people in our communities.''

Kahlon also said the majority of SROs have good fire protections in place.

He said moving away from privately owned buildings would take time and come with a significant cost. Phasing them out would require partnerships to fast-track permitting processes.

"We will have more to say on that in the coming months."

Former councillor fears gentrification

Activist and former Vancouver city councillor Jean Swanson said she didn't know if ending public funding for operators to lease privately-owned buildings like the Winters is a good idea.

"My fear is that if the non-profits aren't leasing the privately owned hotels that they're leasing, that those hotels will be
gentrified and won't be available for low-income people,'' Swanson said Tuesday.

Swanson said things such as better staff and resident training to deal with fires would be beneficial, along with assistive devices, regular fire drills and more stringent enforcement by the city.

"How can they possibly wait three days before reactivating the sprinklers?'' she said. "I was trying to deal with that when I was on council. You know, that should be immediate.''

Swanson said the model of non-profit operators leasing buildings from private owners is preferable to owners renting out buildings themselves and forcing out low-income tenants.

"As soon as the tenant leaves, dies, is evicted or bought out, they raise the rents as much as the market will bear, so the rents in the privately owned hotels go up and then become unavailable for people who depend on social assistance or pensions,'' she said.

"And that's happening in virtually all of the privately owned hotels in the Downtown Eastside.''

"That's what I'm afraid of if that jury recommendation is implemented,'' Swanson said.