A lucky save. The Lucky Lodge of East Cordova Street could have been shut down forcing 63 people to find new accommodations.

63 residents of Lucky Lodge to keep their homes

VANCOUVER May 26.

The City of Vancouver business license panel made up of Councillors Chow, Ladner and Lee have given the Lucky Lodge a reprieve from closure, saving the housing of 63 people who live in the 54 rooms of the DTES rooming house.

Pivot lawyer David Eby spoke to the business licence panel on behalf of residents of the Lucky Lodge. It was the first time in Vancouver that third parties have been allowed to speak at a business licence hearing – normally, the only person permitted to present is the applicant for the licence.

"I’ve lived here since 1984," says resident Victor David Callaway, who also works as a custodian in the building. "I'm glad I don’t have to move because I didn’t have anywhere to go. I hope they get that linoleum fixed, because it’s in terrible condition and it's hard to clean."

Eby asked City Council to require the new property manager, George Metrakos and the owner, to honour a property management agreement requiring $15,000 in renovations to the building every three months. Council was also asked to bar owners Anna and Mario Laudisio, who are alleged to have committed welfare fraud, from entering the property. Violation of either of the conditions will result in the license immediately being referred back to City Council.

"This decision was a great victory for the tenants," says Eby. "There was nowhere else for these tenants to live if this building, substandard as it is, was closed. By setting conditions to the granting of the licence, the City has helped to keep the residents off of the streets while taking steps to improve their living conditions and address problems with management."

Today's decision is particularly important because a similar license hearing is expected soon for the Astoria Hotel, whose tenants are also represented by Pivot Legal Society. A total of 84 people live in the Astoria hotel. With the closure of Burns Block on March 30, 2006, the Pender Hotel on April 8, 2006, increases in rents and student conversions, Vancouver has lost almost 300 low-income housing units since last June. This is in addition to 514 low-income housing units lost in the Downtown Core between June 2003 to June 2005, which accompanied a simultaneous 663 person rise in homelessness.

The licence hearing for the Astoria Hotel has not yet been scheduled.

[read "Lucky Lodge uncertainty" (June 6)]

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Further Comment: David Eby (778) 865-7997