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Dozens of tenants at supportive housing site face eviction JANE SEYD
jseyd@nsnews.com
A group of about 35 tenants who have been living in temporary supportive housing at the former Travelodge site on North Vancouver’s Marine Drive say they’ve been given to the end of May to leave their homes – and many still don’t know where they’ll go.
Paul Stegavig is one of those tenants. He found himself homeless a few years ago after losing his former rental unit to a renoviction. Health problems eventually landed him in hospital, as well as on the street. Staff at the North Shore shelter managed to get him a place in the temporary housing at the former Travelodge site, where he’s been living since April 2023. But at the end of January, tenants living at the site got notice the housing would likely be closing at the end of May to make
way for re-development of the site. In addition, not everyone would be likely to find alternate housing on the North Shore, the notice warned, because there aren’t enough government-subsidized housing units available. The notice was a shock, said Stegavig, because tenants had been under the impression the lease on the property had been renewed last fall for at least another year. In recent months, some former tenants of the Travelodge site who are Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) members have moved into a new supportive housing project opened nearby on Nation land. According to BC Housing, four former Travelodge tenants moved to the Squamish Nation housing. But about three dozen people have been left without any good options, said Stegavig. Continued on A32
Paul Stegavig along with other residents in supportive housing at the former Travelodge motel on Marine Drive in North Van face eviction at the end of May as the property is to be re-developed. PAUL MCGRATH / NSN