A former Vancouver hotel on the Granville Street strip that was purchased for $55 million in 2020 by the provincial government to house people who were living in an encampment at Oppenheimer Park has been deemed “safe to re-occupy” after a fire June 11.
The Luugat, a former Howard Johnson, was forced to evacuate tenants after a fire broke out in a suite on the fifth floor of the building at 1176 Granville St. Vancouver Fire Rescue Services determined the fire was caused by a locking butane torch.
That same day, the city’s chief building official Saul Schwebs visited the Luugat and conducted a limited inspection, including the main electrical room, according to the City of Vancouver’s communications department.
“It was observed that the electrical system had been exposed to significant amounts of water during fire suppression operations,” the City said in an email.
“This creates a risk to occupants and the risk of secondary fires. The [chief building official] determined that this is an unacceptable risk to life safety and ordered the building to be vacated until the electrical system was made safe.”
Following an electrical inspection June 13, Schwebs determined the five-storey building was “safe to re-occupy,” with the exception of certain units which were most impacted,” the City said.
'Road to recovery'
The return of tenants comes as the City and provincial government continue to discuss in public and private the future use of the building, which has generated thousands of calls for service from firefighters and police since it opened in 2020.
Mayor Ken Sim has called for tenants of the Luugat and other single-room-occupancy buildings on the strip, including the provincial government-owned St. Helen’s Hotel (1161 Granville St.) and Granville Villa (1025 Granville St.) to be moved to other buildings.
Where those buildings are and whether the plan is to build new ones as replacements are questions Sim nor Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon could answer this week in interviews with BIV.
Sim said the concentration of tenants living with a mental illness, a drug addiction, or both, along the strip doesn’t benefit them or the businesses in the area, which continue to complain about the growing street disorder.
“We want to set up these vulnerable people for success,” he said.
The mayor wants future buildings for current tenants to have a maximum occupancy of 50, with wraparound support services. “Warehousing,” he said — making a reference to the 110-room Luugat — doesn’t work.
“We want on-site security, and we want there to be an ability for the residents to participate in the road to recovery program,” Sim said. “So we're not asking for anything that's way out there.”
The provincial government announced in June 2020 that it purchased the Luugat — then called the Howard Johnson — and adjacent lot for $55 million. The government news release at the time said the building would operate as temporary supportive housing while long-term plans were developed.
Atira Women’s Resource Society was selected to manage the building.
The release said the Luugat would include wraparound supports where people have access to services such as meals, health care, addictions treatment and harm reduction, as well as storage for personal belongings.
The building was also to have 24/7 staffing “to provide security to residents of the building and the surrounding neighbourhood,” the release said.
Atira, which also manages the St. Helen’s Hotel, had not returned a phone message left Wednesday on its media line before this story was published. Community Builders manages the Granville Villa.
'No health supports'
Former Atira CEO Janice Abbott said funds from the provincial government only allowed for three staff 24/7 at the Luugat, when it opened in the summer of 2020. Abbott said the tenant population could at times go beyond 110, with visitors to the building.
“You've got three people whose primary job is to try and keep a lid on things — there's no time to go into people's rooms and offer support and treatment,” she said, noting many of the tenants were traumatized from incidents that occurred while living in Oppenheimer Park.
“All they're doing is responding to fire, floods, people trying to get in the building, letting people into their rooms who've lost their keys. There's no ability with that level of staffing to provide the kinds of supports that are listed [in the news release].”
Added Abbott: “I'm guessing that whoever wrote that press release thought that three staff 24/7 was enough for that population group. There were no health supports.”
'Politically expedient decision'
Abbott said in December she visited a provincial government-owned building on 12th Avenue, near Granville Street, where there were numerous staff and programs in place. The tenants, many of whom are seniors, were also assessed before moving into the former Chalmers Lodge, which is now called Granville Gates.
“Perhaps if they provided that level of support at Luugat, we wouldn't be here today,” she said, but acknowledged the immediacy in finding housing for people living in Oppenheimer Park during the pandemic.
“It was a politically expedient decision as opposed to a solid policy decision. They did not put people at the centre of that.”
Abbott said a report documenting critical incidents in Atira-operated buildings was sent to government in 2022 to show evidence of the need for more supports and services. Non-profits, she added, often take the brunt of criticism when complaints are raised about buildings such as the Luugat.
“We never talk about whether non-profits are supported or funded well enough,” she said. “The Province [of B.C.] is just able to say, ‘Well, no, it's not our problem. It's the operator’s problem.’”
Police, fire calls
The fire department provided statistics to BIV that show firefighters responded to the Luugat-Howard Johnson 906 times between Jan. 1, 2020 and May 29, 2025. The calls included 43 fires, 375 medical incidents, 334 alarms and 87 for public service.
Over the same time period, the St. Helen’s Hotel in the same block saw firefighters respond to a total of 1,297 calls, including 935 alarms, 251 medicals and 31 fires.
Further north on the strip, the Granville Villa generated 425 calls for firefighters between Jan. 1, 2020 and May 29, 2025. The majority of the calls — 327 — were for medical, including 128 overdoses.
Vancouver police responded to 649 calls at the Luugat in 2024, with the top five calls being for unwanted persons (107), disturbance (61), other Criminal Code (56), check well-being (42) and missing persons (41).
Mental Health Act
In 2024, the St. Helen’s generated 313 police calls, and the Granville Villa saw police attend 597 times. The top five calls at the St. Helen’s were for missing persons (113), unwanted persons (28), other Criminal Code (20), check well-being (20) and warrant (15).
At the Granville Villa, the top five calls were for unwanted persons (132), assist Mental Health Act (75), other Criminal Code (71), missing persons (41) and disturbance (37).
Police also provided statistics for calls in the 1100-block Granville, which totalled 2,392 in 2024. The top calls were for unwanted persons (356), other Criminal Code (313), assist general public (138) and missing persons (115).
For the 1000-block Granville, total calls reached 1,799. Top calls were for unwanted persons (315), other Criminal Code (201), assist Mental Health Act (195), disturbance (148) and check well-being (84).
'Can't blame the housing'
BIV mentioned to B.C.’s housing minister the number of police calls specifically to the buildings, to which he responded: “I would say, ‘How many calls would they have gotten if these individuals were sleeping in front of parks or businesses or forming encampments?”
Added Kahlon: “You can't blame the housing for police calls. Housing is the only way that we can address the challenge we have. The challenge we have is we have people who don't have access to housing. And sorry to stress the point, I just find that that gets lost in conversation becoming about the housing when it's not the housing — it's the fact that people don't have housing.”
Despite Abbott’s comments about lack of staff and services at the Luugat in her time as head of Atira, Kahlon said the Luugat has services in place for tenants.
“What it has on the site is health-care services, it has someone 24/7 available there for people, meals being brought in to people — so lots of different services being provided at that site,” the minister said.
'Too many conflicts'
Discussion about the Luugat comes as city council recently approved a plan for the revitalization of the Granville Street strip that would not allow any new social or supportive housing in what has long been the city’s main entertainment district.
Coun. Peter Meiszner successfully added an amendment to the plan to direct staff to work with BC Housing and the provincial government to offer the use of City-owned sites to replace single-room-occupancy and supportive housing units on the Granville strip.
Meiszner requested the housing be self-contained, modern and dignified, “with robust wraparound services and capital and operational funding to come from BC Housing and the federal and provincial governments.”
In an interview, Meiszner said the push to revitalize the strip is to reinforce the area as an entertainment zone, including adding more hotels, but not housing.
“It's really not a place for that,” he said. “When you're going to be having nightclubs and bars downstairs [in existing residential buildings], it's not really a place we want to be promoting housing use. There's just too many conflicts in terms of people's expectations of noise.”
Added Meiszner: “The policy around the zoning that was approved is pretty clear. Obviously, we're not looking to displace anybody, but over the longer term those uses would not really fit with the vision of the plan.”
'Several' sites identified
Meanwhile, Meiszner said he’s heard from staff that “several” City sites have been identified to find housing for tenants of single-room-occupancy and supportive housing buildings on Granville Street.
He, too, couldn’t say where the sites are located or whether the properties would be used to construct new buildings or renovate existing buildings. Until then, tenants in the Granville buildings will stay put, Kahlon said.
“People will move when we have new housing options available,” the minister said.
“We are waiting eagerly to hear from the City about where those locations might be and what they were suggesting when they passed that motion. We haven't heard those details yet, but we've been told that they'll be sharing some information with us very soon.”
At the same time, Kahlon said clarity is needed around the mayor’s move to not allow any net new supportive housing in Vancouver.
He also questioned the City’s decision to quash the rezoning of a city-owned property in Kitsilano that a previous council approved in July 2022 to have a 13-storey social housing tower built on the site.
“So there's a lot of complexities that we're dealing with that make it challenging,” he said.
'Get to pragmatism'
Meanwhile, businesses along the Granville strip continue to complain about street disorder and fully support council’s commitment to revitalize the area.
Laura Ballance, who speaks on behalf of businesses along the strip, said owners and operators are afraid to speak out about their concerns over fears of being wrongly targeted as criticizing vulnerable people.
Ballance said operators support more services and housing for people with complex needs, but not on the strip.
“The people that are living there aren't safe,” Ballance said. “The street is no longer safe, and we need to get past the politics and get to pragmatism, and what are we going to do, and how are we going to do it, and how are we going to do it quickly.”
Added Ballance: “I think we can all agree what's happening on Granville Street is not working — it's a failed experiment. Nobody is being well served.”
Nine units 'uninhabitable'
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Housing said in an email Thursday that nine units at the Luugat remained “uninhabitable.”
“Residents of these nine units have been provided suitable housing in other units or buildings, chosen to stay with friends and family, or will not be returning to the Luugat,” the ministry said.
“Timelines for repairs to those nine units vary. BC Housing is working with partners to assess the scope of work required and will have more information to share with the residents and public as it becomes available.”
The ministry said the Luugat has three or more on-site staff 24/7, and management staff are on site during work hours. Services at the site include daily meals, harm reduction and overdose prevention, the ministry said.
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