Closing of meeting space irks residents
Residents at a Johnson Street building for formerly homeless people are upset that their common-room meeting space is being closed.
“It was a battle to get this space opened after it was promised,” said Doug Swait, a tenant for more than a year and a member of the residents’ council, which meets weekly in the room. “They promised a lot of things that never happened. Now they want to close this and for what?”
The Johnson Street Community building at 844 Johnson St. is the former Central Care Home, purchased by the province last year to house people camped out on the courthouse lawn.
It has 140 single-room units, shared showers and common rooms on each floor. Residents were promised common-area space, supportive programming and input in building operations.
The building is operated by PHS Community Services, a Vancouver-based organization that manages several supportive housing projects, including the Douglas Street Community building in the former Super 8 Motel on Douglas Street.
Both buildings offer supports for people struggling with health and addictions issues. Johnson Street has an overdose-prevention unit that is open to residents only, as well as meals and storage.
Swait said residents and supporters from the courthouse tentcity camp formed the group Super Intent City, which continued to meet weekly in the 3rd floor common-space room.
“We meet every Tuesday at 5 and different people show up. Sometimes it’s four or 30 people,” said Swait. “We talk about issues with the building … and are available 24/7 for anyone needing to talk.”
Swait said there is nowhere else in the building the group feels comfortable meeting and they’re not on good terms with management.
“There’s not a lot of trust there right now,” he said, citing a recent dispute over a policy restricting guests and making them sign in — which was thrown out by an arbitrator in August, but Swait said is still in effect.
No one from PHS was available to comment, but the organization said through a communications agency that the room was closing for several reasons, including staff finding non-residents staying there overnight, some people trying to prevent staff from entering the room by locking the doors from the inside and an order from the Victoria Fire Department to declutter the space.
“PHS staff will continue to work with residents to provide common space for them to meet; there are already other spaces available at the building that residents can use that are safe, and that comply with the fire-code regulations,” said Lesli Boldt, from Boldt Communications.
Swait said he’s been present during fire inspections and was not aware there were any issues with the room.
A post on the residents’ group website states: “This common space is necessary for socializing and support. We need a place to ‘be’ without being monitored, where we can speak and move freely. If we lose this space, we lose so much.”