A social housing facility run by the Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA) has been declared unsafe for habitation and the group has been charged with 59 counts of fire code violations.
The 75-unit Marie Gomez building at Princess and Alexander streets on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver has been evacuated and DERA has pled guilty to 20 of the fire code violations.
The building is known to police, fire department officials and local residents. It has been closed for several weeks and will be destroyed because it is inhabitable.
Former Fire Department Capt. Rob Jones-Cook told CTV News the building is in extremely poor condition.
"As far as fire code violations, this building is rating right up there as one of the worst in the city," he said. "Certainly anybody that uses this building is aware there were used syringes hidden all over the building. We get a pinprick from something like that, and the potential for sickness is certainly there. It's a sad story, this building is only 20-odd years old," he said.
The parties appeared in bylaw court on Tuesday but the case was adjourned until further notice. No reschedule date has been fixed.
The sentence for bylaw violations can include fines between $500 and $2,000 for each violation.
"We're told there is quite a large mould problem in the building. It has been cleaned up but it's certainly not safe enough for anybody to move back into it," Jones-Cook said.
A Vancouver city council report from September 2007 shows council determined the cost of repairing the building would be more expensive than replacing it.
The 2007 report says B.C. Housing and DERA believe the tenants should be relocated and the site returned to the city for redevelopment.
But it is not known where the residents, who were evicted in January, have relocated to.
Jones-Cook said the city had a relocation expert working there, as well as help from other agencies such as the Salvation Army.
"People will be taken care of, they won't just be thrown out on the street," he said.
A large pile of personal belongings and debris sat in the courtyard of the building last week, waiting for a hazardous materials company to clean it out, and remove the drywall from the building before demolishing it.
"It's in bad condition. There are areas of the floor people could fall through. The fire alarm system is not operating, and there is evidence of wires being cut to the fire alarm system," Jones-Cook said. "Smoke detectors and heat detectors are not working. The fire extinguishers were missing, the doors are not closing properly, the hardware for the latching devices is missing."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington
