Mary Frances Hill
Sun
Unscrupulous landlords and ineffective rent controls are driving welfare recipients out of single-room occupancy hotels and onto the streets, according to a report by a Downtown Eastside housing activists’ group.
The number of rooms renting at above $425 — $50 above the welfare shelter rate — is steadily increasing, said a report released Wednesday by the Carnegie Community Action Project.
The “Still Losing Hotel Rooms Report,” co-authored by Wendy Pederson and Jean Swanson, found 694 more rooms than last year are renting at more than $425 a month.
In 2008, a similar CCAP report found 889 rooms renting at more than $425.
The Ministry of Human Resources designates $375 a month in each welfare cheque toward shelter costs, though only about six rooms out of 3,600 available in the Downtown Eastside are being rented for $375, said Pederson.
There is nothing a low-income tenant can do when faced with high rates, as rent controls in the poor neighbourhood are ineffective, Pederson said in an interview. “Single-room-occupancy residences are the last resort before homelessness.”
In April and May, four surveyors from the CCAP posed as prospective tenants at 88 privately owned Downtown Eastside hotels and recorded information from 63 of them.
Pederson said about 344 previously closed hotel rooms have opened under non-profit management, and nearly 338 new units are expected to open by the end of 2009.
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