Vancouver shuts down Downtown Eastside residence due to ‘deplorable negligence’

VANCOUVER – The City of Vancouver is shutting down a decrepit residence on the Downtown Eastside, where some of the city's most vulnerable have been living in what the CEO of a non-profit says are mould- and feces-ridden conditions.

Janice Abbott, the CEO of Atira Women's Resource Society, which took over management of the Regent Hotel about three months ago, says the building is in horrific condition.

Mayor Gregor Robertson says the city and province had to intervene after many years of "deplorable negligence" by the owners of the Regent Hotel.

An order was issued Wednesday giving the occupants eight days notice that they will have to leave the building.

About 80 residents will have the option to move into one of two buildings called the Jubilee Rooms on nearby Main Street, which the province recently purchased for $12.5 million.

Robertson says the Regent Hotel has been the subject of more than 1,000 outstanding bylaw violations, including 445 that were referred for prosecution.

The city's chief building official determined that, due to decades of underinvestment and mismanagement by the building's owners, structural and life-safety deficiencies constitute unsafe living conditions.