Pubdate: Mon, 30 Oct 2006
Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Canoe Inc
Contact:  http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837
Author: Irwin Loy, 24 Hours

SPIRALLING COSTS OF HOUSING ADDICTS

The manager of one hotel that caters to low-income renters predicts
more Downtown Eastside hotels will close, kicking its residents onto
the street, if the city's drug conundrum isn't solved.

Landlords just can't afford to deal with the costs of housing drug
addicts, according to Harold Myshrall, who manages a low-income
residential hotel on Granville Street.

"A lot of landlords are just saying, enough is enough," Myshrall told
24 hours in an interview. "It's just easier to close than to stay in
business."

Myshrall said he's facing a bill of $700 (roughly two months' rent) to
fix up one of his units after the now-departed tenant defecated
throughout the room.

Over the past year, at least three residential hotels in the DTES have
shut, spilling its tenants onto the streets.

Homeless advocates accuse the building owners of trying to make a
quick buck in time for the Olympics.

Myshrall, however, paints a different picture.

"The owners finally just had enough of it," said Myshrall, who thinks
buildings would not be shutting down if the city's drug problem could
be solved. "Landlords wouldn't have all these damages and extra costs
being laid on them."

DTES advocate David Eby says he accepts it's costly for landlords to
house drug addicts.

"But drug issues in the DTES aren't new," said Eby, a Pivot Legal
Society lawyer. "What is new is that the hotels are closing at a crazy
rate. People are buying these buildings for incredible sums of money."

The 18-unit Burns Block, for example, closed earlier this year and is
now for sale at $2.5 million - roughly five times what the owner paid
for it in 2003.

Last week, squatters occupied the empty North Star Hotel, demanding
the city follow through with a promise to buy properties for social
housing.

THE BOTTOM LINE

For a 100-unit hotel at 75% occupancy, charging $390/month:

- - Monthly revenues: $29,250

- - Fixed expenses: $25,000: utilities, staffing, etc.

- - Monthly profit margin: $4,000

- - Variable repair costs: "If you have $5,000 worth of damage done to
your building in a month, you're not making very much money," said
Harold Myshrall.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek