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West Vancouver Capilano MLA and BC United housing critic Karin Kirkpatrick is questioning whether the supports being supplied to residents of “temporary” supportive housing in the former Travelodge motel in North Vancouver are adequate, after she says neighbours have complained about open drug use and increased crime and vandalism in the area.
On Monday, Oct. 16, Kirkpatrick raised the issue in the legislature, asking why the government is “choosing to warehouse the homeless without adequate supports."
“The Travelodge on Marine Drive in North Vancouver is a glaring example of this,” she said in the legislature. “I’ve heard countless concerns from neighbours and families horrified by the open and unsupervised drug use and rising vandalism.”
Kirkpatrick went to ask why “such lawlessness and danger” were being allowed “to fester at the Travelodge.”
But the Lu’ma Native Housing Society which runs the supportive housing at the Travelodge site says there are supports and programs in place.
“Lu’ma takes the neighbour concerns really seriously,” said Mike Walker, a lawyer acting as a spokesperson for the housing society.
There is on-site supervision, said Walker, but added, “these are difficult issues. Sometimes it’s more difficult than we would like.”
Project has unusual history
The housing project at the motel site has an unusual history.
Part of the motel was quietly put into in use as a shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. That’s when the province began to rent hotel rooms in a few communities to help provide more space for people who would otherwise be living in crowded emergency shelters or not have anywhere to isolate when they became ill.
Later the project changed from an offshoot of the shelter to a supportive housing model, where tenants recommended by agencies that work with people experiencing homelessness are provided long-term housing along with meals and other programs.
The housing project began with 21 rooms, which was later expanded to 30 rooms, then eventually to all 61 rooms at the site. The operator of the site also changed, from the Lookout Housing and Health Society, which also operates the emergency housing shelter on Second Street in North Vancouver, to the Lu’ma Native Housing Society, which operates six supportive housing sites across Metro Vancouver. Fifteen of the rooms at the site are reserved for Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation).
BC Housing has been paying $1.5 million annually towards the operating costs of the supportive housing, on top of the lease. The initial term of the lease is up next month and is expected to be renewed.
Neighbours question if enough support in place
But in the interim, Kirkpatrick said she’s heard from more than 40 neighbours in condo towers and along Marine Drive concerned about open drug use and an increase in vandalism in nearby areas.
“They are finding drug paraphernalia,” she said.
Neighbours have reported seeing bodies being removed from suites, she said, leading to “a presumption there have been some deaths there.” The BC Coroner Service is investigating several deaths associated with the site, including two from overdoses.
The site wasn’t built for the purpose it’s being used for, she added, leading to a lack of security for residents and there are fears people who live at the site are being preyed on by drug dealers or others.
“You don’t even know who the people in the parking lot are,” she said. "The building itself is dilapidated and there are shopping carts all over the street.”
Kirkpatrick said before the lease for the site is extended, she’d like reassurance that enough supportive services are being provided.
In a letter to Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing, in June, Kirkpatrick wrote the most common concern she hears about from neighbours is “the lack of clarity and accountability from your ministry about this project, and a lack of communication with neighbourhood residents.”
“At what point do you actually have a conversation with the community?” she asked.
Kirkpatrick said she hasn’t got a reply.
Meanwhile, she said issues like those being reported at the Travelodge could make others reluctant to see supportive housing in their neighbourhoods. "You are going to get more and more pushback," she said. "It does cause a problem."
Staff on site around the clock
According to BC Housing, there are currently 55 tenants living at the Travelodge. Some of those people previously lived at a temporary hotel site in Vancouver operated by Lu’ma during the pandemic.
Lu’ma staff are on site around the clock, said Walker, including five or six staff members during the day and at least two overnight.
“There’s very good supervision of the site,” he said, including hourly ‘walkarounds’ and a procedure involving wellness checks on residents.
All residents must agree to participate in programs, he said, but aren’t required to be drug and alcohol free.
“It’s not a sobriety-based program,” he said.
Walker said police and Squamish Nation peacekeepers are involved in any law enforcement issues but, in some cases, “neighbour concerns are not about the law,” he said. “If people don’t like what they see, that’s different.”
Walker said Lu’ma is working diligently to make the project work with the neighbourhood. The Marine Drive site is no different than those operated by Lu’ma in other communities, he said.
“Have they achieved perfection? No. Will they achieve perfection? Likely not," he said. "It’s going to be hard work to make something like this work, no matter where it is.”
Walker said the hope is residents in the temporary site will be able to move to the Keith Road supportive housing project in North Vancouver once it’s built.
Second supportive housing project opened
Bowinn Ma, NDP MLA for the neighbouring North Vancouver Lonsdale riding, said there’s a significant need for housing on the North Shore, and the project has provided immediate housing while more permanent housing is being developed.
In September, the Ministry of Housing announced plans to build a 65-unit, six-storey building on the northeast corner of Keith Road and Mountain Highway, which will also be operated by the Lu’ma Native Housing Society. Five of the units will be for people requiring complex care, supported by Vancouver Coastal Health.
BC Housing also provides approximately $1.31 million to Hiy’am’ ta Sḵwxwú7mesh Housing Society for the operation of Estítkw Place, a 55-unit supportive housing at 239 Lower Capilano Road, about a block away from the Travelodge, which opened this fall on Squamish Nation land behind the International Plaza. The project also provides housing and supportive programs to those experiencing or at-risk-of homelessness, and those with mental health or substance use problems.
According to BC Housing, there has been a delay in having tenants move into Estítkw Place, so there are currently just four tenants living in those units.
