Management at a Downtown Eastside rooming house ordered thefts of bedsheets, pillows and towels from Vancouver hospitals, according to an affidavit filed in a class action lawsuit against the hotel’s owners.
Photos allegedly taken inside the Regent Hotel and attached to the affidavit show stacks of pillows bearing the words “Healthcare Facility Property” and sheets that the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority can’t confirm are stolen – but say are consistent with what they own.
“[Hotel owner] Gurdyal Sahota would not directly tell people to steal these items from St. Paul’s or Vancouver General Hospital, but he would ask the “right” people whether they had any pillows or sheets to sell right now, and then those people would come back a few hours later with pillows or sheets,” former employee Sam Dharmapala says in the affidavit.
Sahota would pay 20 cents for a towel, 50 cents for bedsheets, and 50 cents for pillows, the affidavit says.
“Over the course of my employment, I saw Gurdyal Sahota make such purchases 100 times,” Dharmapala said in the affidavit.
The Regent Hotel on 160 Hastings Street, the Balmoral Hotel across the street, the Cobalt Hotel on Main Street, and the Astoria Hotel are all owned by someone in the Sahota family, according to the affidavit. Estimates have put the family’s real estate empire’s worth at over $130 million.
The family, the hotels, and the City of Vancouver are all defendants in class action lawsuits asking for compensation for problems in the hotels, such as no hot water or malfunctioning elevators.
“Tenants wake up with their toes being nibbled on by rats,” the lawyer handling the suits, Jason Gratl told CTV News. “It’s unacceptable.”
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
CTV News visited the Regent Hotel on Wednesday. There was no hot water in one room; in two rooms nearby the suite’s door was pushed off its hinges, one because of maintenance but one apparently because the door had been kicked in. One man said he hadn’t left his room for a week because the open door meant his things could be stolen.
Garbage was piled in one hallway. One utility closet was piled with garbage, including plastic bags, mayonnaise, and another door off its hinges.
Tenant Jack Gates, who is the plaintiff on the lawsuit against the Regent Hotel, shares a bathroom with others on the floor. He said on Tuesday night 17 people were living in six rooms near him. He said he couldn’t have a shower because a woman had gone into the bathroom he shared at midnight and hadn’t come out by 3 p.m.
“The heat’s not working. It’s really cold in here. I’m sick from all of this,” Gates said.
The Sahotas have applied to dismiss the lawsuit. CTV News attempted to reach Gurdyal Sahota by the number hotel staff provided.
“You’re a good guy,” said Sahota. “Yeah.” Then he hung up.
Dharmapala also alleges in the affidavit that management organizes systemic theft from Home Depot, receives cash from “drug dealers and criminal organizations” in exchange for exclusive rights to sell drugs at the hotel, and intimidated tenants.
Dharmapala told CTV News he was fired from the hotel, but denied he has an axe to grind. He said he was speaking out because in his travel to more than 26 countries, including India and Sri Lanka, he’d never seen people living like this.
“The living situation, it’s not for the human,” Dharmapala said in an interview.
