Residents of Vancouver SRO demand compensation over 5 months without elevator access

For five months, residents living at the Portland Hotel in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside were without access to an elevator due to an outage that began last September.

Dozens of tenants at the SRO were forced to move to alternative housing. Several residents of the 80 unit building chose to stay.

"In our tenancy agreement it says that our elevators were to be included and this and that, and half the things they said were to be there for us, haven't been,” Jennifer Orlinis, a resident, told CTV News Wednesday.

Since she lives on the eighth floor, she had to walked up eight flights of stairs every day and night until the elevator was recently fixed.

“I have asthma so it was hard on my lungs,” she said.

On Wednesday, residents of Portland Hotel joined the Vancouver Tenants Union to call for action by PHS Community Services, which manages the SRO.

"Because we're in an SRO, they belittle us, like we're the last of the last,” said Kim Berg, who lives in the building.

"I think that we tend to mystify these non-profits who manage these SRO’s as some sort of greater good that's doing some sort of justice for society, but the reality is they function just like any other landlord...they continue to not listen to tenants,” said Ben Ger, an organizer with Vancouver Tenants Union.

Attendees of the rally, which was held downtown outside a PHS board member’s office, shouted “justice” and waved a banner painted with the words Portland Tenants Union. 

PHS did not respond to requests by CTV News for an interview. The organization manages 30 supportive housing complexes across Vancouver.

When asked if residents would be compensated over the inconvenience, B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon pointed to the fact that the elevator has since been fixed.

"We took great efforts to get the elevator fixed, but in the mean time we offered everyone an opportunity to go to an alternative location,” he told reporters Wednesday.

BC Housing says the elevator system was returned to full service on Feb. 7, and that it’s monitoring the situation.

“BC Housing works closely with its partners to ensure that any and all building repairs are completed in a timely manner, with as minimal disruption to residents as possible. In the long-term, BC Housing has also elected to fully modernize the elevator beyond its most recent repairs to ensure its longevity well into the future,” the organization said in a statement.