200 floods in nightclub after Granville Strip hotel turned into supportive housing
In addition to the existing SROs located within buildings dating back to the early 1900s, the provincial government greatly expanded the Granville Strip’s housing supply for people with highly complex challenges through its pandemic-time decision to purchase and convert the Howard Johnson Hotel and the Hostelling International Vancouver Central buildings into permanent supportive housing.
Building brand new off-site social housing is seen as a win-win — providing purpose-built homes that are better suited for the unique needs of the residents and are located away from the excess noise, lights, and other influences of the entertainment district, while also allowing the entertainment district to operate without further restrictions stemming from its immediate proximity to residential uses.
“These buildings are old. They are old hotels in many cases, and they were already nearing the end of their life when they were purchased by the Province. So in order to advance the revitalization of Granville Street, and also to ensure that people are living in dignified self-contained social housing units, which is a goal of the City of Vancouver, I’m proposing an amendment to work with the provincial and federal governments to transition people to new self-contained social housing units that are outside of the entertainment zone,” continued Meiszner, prior to the amendment’s approval.
In a statement to Daily Hive Urbanized upon inquiry, Ravi Kahlon the B.C. Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, commended the City’s decision to approve the Granville Street Plan, and said the provincial government is willing to explore the replacement of the aging SROs.
“I am encouraged that Vancouver City Council unanimously passed the Granville Street Plan. I look forward to working with all partners to replace aging SROs, with purpose-built, safe, and supportive housing,” said Kahlon.
Meiszner’s amendment followed public speakers to City Council, including the owners of two longtime Granville Strip nightclubs, who described severe disruptions and significant financial losses to their businesses caused by the housing located directly above them in the building.
Aura Nightclub owner Alan Goodall. (City of Vancouver)
Alan Goodall, the owner of Aura Nightclub, which is on the ground level of the former Howard Johnston Hotel, told City Council that while he has been operating the business for 16 years, the extreme challenges did not begin until five years ago.
Just a few months into the pandemic in 2020, the provincial government acquired the 1911-built, five-storey Howard Johnson Hotel building for $55 million to convert its 110 rooms into permanent supportive housing, rapidly providing shelter for people living in the Oppenheimer Park encampment — not just people experiencing homelessness, but also those with severe mental health and addictions issues.
At the time of the acquisition, BC Housing stated that the long-term plan is to redevelop the former Howard Johnson Hotel into a new purpose-built affordable housing building.
Goodall asserts that ever since the floors above the nightclub became supportive housing, his business has had to deal with approximately at least 200 floods.
“Dealing with BC Housing for the first few years was horrible and borderline unacceptable… Having them just basically make me put up with it,” he told City Council.
“It’s upsetting to me to think that all these floods are happening, and they would come in with the restoration companies and put out the fans and the dehumidifiers. But they would expect me to put in all the time with all the mopping, pay for all the labour, and have to make these repairs.”
Goodall says a floor replacement due to the flood damage cost $51,000, and he had to close the nightclub for four weeks to undergo the repairs.
After BC Housing was made aware of the damages in December 2024, a restoration company came in with less than 24 hours notice, and put 50 staff members out of work due to the prolonged temporary closure required.
“In terms of someone who’s on the ground level and dealing with these SROs, and we all want a better location for these people to live in, I think that often they have no place to go because they go out on the street — because they don’t have a park or like an outside space,” he said.
“We need to see some movement [on these conditions] because otherwise you’re not going to have any nightclubs that are downtown. You’re not going to have any pubs, and good luck having an entertainment district if you don’t have these strong businesses.”
Cabana Nightclub owner Dave Kershaw. (City of Vancouver)
Just across the street from Aura Nightclub is Cabana Nightclub, located on the ground floor of the 1911-built, five-storey St. Helen’s Hotel, which contains 93 SRO units above the nightclub.
Dave Kershaw, who has owned Cabana Nightclub since 2010, also attributed the Granville Strip’s accelerated decline in recent years to the provincial government’s introduction of new supportive housing properties as a pandemic-era measure.
“Since 2020, when the province had the policy to move people from encampments up to Granville Street, we’ve seen a massive increase in disorder, open drug use, people injecting heroin in front of my business while I’m open, and customers and tourists witnessing this. So we really need some fast and decisive action,” Kershaw told City Council.
He described the negative impacts of the permanent conversion of these Granville Strip hotels into supportive housing as “the low point” of his 30 years operating businesses in the area.
He also emphasized that “businesses on Granville are in jeopardy” and “it’s not getting better.”
“The nightlife industry stands ready to support our partners here in the City to work with the Province to find solutions to these problems,” continued Kershaw.
St. Helen’s SRO at 1161 Granville St., home to Cabana Nightclub. (Google Maps)
Nearly a year ago, the owner of Wildlife Thrift Store, located on Granville Street about one block away from the former Howard Johnston Hotel, also publicly shared the staff turnover, stress, and financial costs they have incurred due to the area’s issues.
As of August 2024, over a three year period, the thrift store spent over $300,000 to cover the costs of security guards to keep employees safe and repairing frequently broken windows.
“We lived for 19 years without security to all of a sudden, now $100,000 a year to pay a security guard who’s trained to take people down violently because that’s the only thing that will do the job. It’s immensely frustrating to us, and that’s what wears you down,” Wildlife Thrift Store owner Gary Ahlqvist previously told Daily Hive Urbanized, noting that the area’s issues did not begin until the provincial government’s pandemic-time acquisition of hotels for supportive housing.
Based on a September 2024 Freedom Of Information (FOI) request made by Daily Hive Urbanized to the Vancouver Police Department for statistics related to calls and incidents at supportive housing properties known to experience a high degree of operational issues, the data shows there was a 118 per cent jump in the total number of calls for service over a five-year period at the Howard Johnston Hotel, growing from 733 in 2019 — when the property was still used as a tourist hotel — to 1,596 in 2023.
There was a 525 per cent surge in weapons calls at the former Howard Johnston Hotel over five years, rising from one such call about every 46 days in 2019 (eight per year) to one per seven days in 2023 (50 per year). During the intervening years, the number of weapons calls per year reached 25 in 2020, 41 in 2021, and 34 in 2022. There were 24 weapons calls over the first eight months of 2024.
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