A former hotel on Vancouver’s Granville Strip, which has seen thousands of police and fire calls and been the subject of numerous street disorder complaints since it was transformed into supportive housing during COVID, will close by June of next year, the province confirmed Friday.
BC Housing is moving towards closing the Luugat or former Howard Johnson at 1176 Granville Street by June 2026, the Crown corporation said in a joint statement with the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs.
The province and city of Vancouver are working together, it said, to relocate tenants in three single-room occupancy (SRO) buildings, including the Luugat, to subsidized and supportive housing outside of the Granville Entertainment District (GED).
Plan to Transition SROs out of Granville Entertainment District
In June, Vancouver’s mayor announced the province was planning to transition the supportive housing units in three provincially-owned buildings – the 110-room Luugat, the 93-room St. Helen’s SRO at 1161 Granville Street and the 77-room Granville Villa at 1025 Granville Street – out of the city’s entertainment district.
The city said it would support relocating residents to smaller purpose-built supportive housing with better wraparound services to address mental health and addictions.
In July, Ken Sim said he had provided the province with a list of five city-owned sites to replace the three problematic Granville Street supportive housing facilities with five smaller scale facilities, each with 55 to 65 units. The mayor declined to reveal the locations of the five potential sites.
The province said it has been working on plans to replace the Granville SRO units over the longer term and is evaluating future options for the other two sites but as of Friday, “no notices or timelines have been given to residents of St. Helens and Granville Villa, and there are no immediate plans to do so.”
In a statement on Friday, Sim said supportive housing does not belong in the GED and news of a closure timeline for the Luugat was a step forward.
“While we hope this will hopefully provide some certainty to those who live and work within the GED, we continue to call for the province to articulate a clear plan regarding the closure of both the St. Helens Hotel and the Granville Villa,” the mayor said, promising the city would hold the province to its word. “The province has informed us that these facilities will be closed and that the residents within those facilities will not be located elsewhere in the GED.”
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From Tourist Hotel to Supportive Housing
In June 2020, the province bought the former Howard Johnson for $55 million, to house people who’d been living in encampments, including individuals with serious substance use and mental health challenges.
A June 24, 2020, B.C. government news release on the purchase stated the Granville Street hotel site would operate as temporary supportive housing while long-term plans were developed.
Almost immediately, bar owners on or near the Granville Strip said open drug use, street disorder and violence ensued while their businesses were already struggling with less traffic under pandemic restrictions.
Police calls to the former Howard Johnson hotel soared from 65 in 2019 to 751 in 2020.
That number spiked again in 2021 when the VPD attended 970 times before decreasing after the pandemic to 762 in 2022 and 628 in 2023.
Police were called to the Luugat 649 times in 2024, or almost twice a day on average.
In June, Vancouver Police Chief Const. Steve Rai confirmed his members have attended 1176 Granville Street almost 4,000 times since 2020.
Statistics provided by Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) show calls to the Howard Johnson jumped 157 per cent, from 91 in 2020, to 234 in 2024.
Impact on Granville Street Businesses
“This has been an incredibly long road,” said Alan Goodall, the owner of Aura Nightclub on the ground floor of the former hotel.
Goodall said he’s had to deal with over 200 floods, endless water damage, multiple ceiling cave-ins, work closures, break-ins, fires, stabbings, and a parking lot shooting since the Howard Johnson became social housing.
The longtime bar owner said he’s extremely happy to hear BC Housing will actually follow through with the commitment made by former housing minister Ravi Kahlon to properly relocate the SRO residents to a more suitable area outside of the GED.
“After five-plus years, there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel,” Goodall told Global News in an email Sunday. “Hopefully, our provincial government and the city will be able to move forward with the residents of the St. Helens building next so we can further advance the Granville Street Plan as envisioned.”
Goodall commended Vancouver’s mayor and council for approving the plan and having the will to continue moving it forward.
Businesses in the entertainment district, he said, are counting on this plan and remain hopeful that revitalization will bring business back to Granville Street.
The industry advocacy organization, which represents bar owners and other members of Vancouver’s nighttime economy sector, said the permanent closure of the Howard Johnson SRO next June is welcome news, and credited Sim for his “tireless advocacy” on the issue.
“We agree that vulnerable people need supports, but we can also agree that common sense needs to be applied on where we’re locating these residences,” Laura Ballance with the Hospitality Vancouver Association told Global News in an interview Friday. “Do they, in fact, have wraparound services to support these people, and are we doing the best we can as a city and a province to ensure that these individuals and these vulnerable people have the best opportunity for success.”
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Plan to Relocate Luugat Tenants Elsewhere
In response to Nov. 8 posts from Sim and ABC councillor Peter Meiszner on X, housing advocate and former COPE city councillor Jean Swanson said the impending closure of the Luugat was “terrible news”.
“So we lose 110 units of desperately needed low-income housing so FIFA fans and people who (are) being entertained don’t have to see poor people,” Swanson wrote.
Swanson added that Vancouver has about 3,500 homeless people who desperately need the Luugat’s 110 units, and relocating the tenants to supportive housing elsewhere means that housing then won’t be available for those living on the streets.
BC Housing is developing a plan for the future use of the Howard Johnson site and the province said more details will be shared when they become available.
Over the coming weeks, BC Housing will be working with Luugat tenants and Community Builders, which took over managing 1176 Granville Street earlier this year from Atira, which had operated the social housing since 2020.
All residents will be offered appropriate alternative housing and moving supports before the building closes, according to the province.
“Tenants will likely move to different homes at different times throughout the following months, as these decisions will be based on tenants’ needs and the availability of housing that fits those needs,” said the statement from BC Housing and the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs.
Goodall said he’s gotten to know many Luugat residents over the years and trusts the Community Builders Group will be able to find a safe and suitable home for everyone in amongst their portfolio of buildings.
“I am compassionate towards your needs and sympathize that moving is never an easy thing for anyone,” Goodall told Global News.
