Latest hotel evictions trigger call for moratorium

Vancouver city Coun. Tim Stevenson is calling for a moratorium on the conversion of single-room residential hotels, to stop the loss of low-income housing in the city's Downtown Eastside.

The move, which will be debated at city council on Thursday, comes after yet another group of hotel tenants has been told they're being evicted.

The low-rent Empress Hotel on East Hastings Street was recently sold to a new owner.

Charlie Humble, who lives in the hotel and works part time there as well, said the tenants got word of the evictions last week.

"He said we're giving everyone three months notice and then they have to go," he said.

Humble said he doesn't know where he and the other low-income tenants will go if they are evicted.

"They're upset, they're scared. A lot of these people don't know where they're going to live."

CBC News was unable to reach the owner or his lawyer for comment.

Stevenson says there has been a wave of hotel closures on the Downtown Eastside, including the American Hotel on Main Street earlier this month.

"We need to stop these evictions. There's absolutely no place for these people to go to. They'll end up out in the park, on the street."

Council will also hear a motion from Coun. Kim Capri, who is calling on staff to work with B.C. Housing to find an alternative to the hotels.

She calls the hotels only "marginally viable"but still the most affordable housing in the city.

Last week, Capri had called for the development of dorm-style housing as an affordable alternative for the homeless in Vancouver. She said the 100-square-foot sleeping units could serve as transitional housing until better accommodations could be found.