End funding of private rooming hotels, says B.C. fire inquest jury

The jury in a coroner’s inquest into the Winters Hotel fire that killed two people in Vancouver two years ago has recommended ending public funding for single-room-occupancy hotels in privately owned buildings.

It’s among more than two dozen recommendations, including that BC Housing work with operators and owners to ensure SRO buildings be held to higher fire safety standards than the minimum.

The inquest examined the deaths of Mary Ann Garlow and Dennis Guay, whose bodies were found in the rubble of the hotel in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood more than a week after the April 11, 2022, fire.

Sarah Blyth, executive director of the Overdose Prevention Society, says ending public funding is no small action, and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

“There’s a lot of concern that if funding is taken away, it will make it more difficult for private owners to work with BC Housing and the government to provide housing,” Blyth said. “It may really make it difficult to have affordable housing for people.”

Blyth says the government would have to engage in a lot of planning to make this change. She also says, regardless of the funding outcome, she thinks there should be more third-party involvement with SROs, citing their ability to hold living standards to account in these buildings.

The inquest that began on Jan. 22 heard that candles left on a bed started the blaze and that sprinklers in the building didn’t work because they hadn’t been reset since a smaller fire three days earlier.

The jury has ruled the deaths of Garlow, 63, and Guay 53, as accidental, caused by thermal injuries and smoke inhalation.

It says fire precautions should be upgraded in SRO hotels, which cater to some of the city’s most vulnerable people, including backup fire extinguishers and a “buddy system” to help people with disabilities in the event of a fire.

Investment in old building won’t keep residents safe: housing operator

In a statement Tuesday, Atira Women’s Resource Society, the housing operator of the Winters Hotel at the time of the fire, said it acknowledges and supports “100 per cent of the recommendations from the jury.”

“We also acknowledge the pain and sadness that Ms. Garlow and Mr. Guay’s family and friends have gone through over the last two weeks, compounding the unimaginable grief of losing their loved ones, and we want to assure them that we also feel this loss deeply at Atira, and will forever,” the organization continued.

It went on to say that since the time of the fire, it has worked hard to improve safety in all its residency buildings, and has ensured that all staff have appropriate training and resources available in the event of another life-threatening emergency.

“This inquest has offered an important reminder to us all: ensuring the safety of staff and tenants in 100-year-old buildings that house people with very complex needs is a challenge at the highest level. Atira remains committed, however, to providing safe, supportive housing for our tenants,” it said.

“We believe that when there is a commitment by government to fund supportive social housing to the level that guarantees safety, it would be an investment in the future.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that no reasonable investment in these buildings will ensure the health and safety of staff and tenants. We look forward to a future of Housing to Hope where long-term solutions such as purpose-built housing is considered and prioritized by BC Housing.”

-With files from Raynaldo Suarez