Support ready for evicted motel tenants

by Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star posted Aug 28, 2015 at 1:00 AM— updated Aug 28, 2015 at 6:05 AM
Assistance remains available for some Vernon residents facing eviction. Tenants of 25th Avenue’s Green Valley Motel must be out of their units by Monday and there has been some concern about where they will go. “The service provider community does expect that a number of people will be homeless when the Green Valley Motel closes,” said Annette Sharkey, with the Social Planning Council. It’s not specifically known how many tenants are impacted. “Although we have heard through the grapevine that some tenants have made their own plans, only a handful of tenants have connected to housing outreach services,” said Sharkey. “The community is rallying around the John Howard Society and its shelter services as we expect it will feel the most pressure. B.C. Housing has provided extra resources and the Gateway Shelter will have the ability to open their mat program in the basement if there is a rush on shelter beds.” Sharkey says service agencies are just waiting to see what the demand will be for assistance. “The community is prepared to support the tenants as much as possible with the resources available.” Sixty-day eviction notices were issued in June and at the time, one of the owners stated eviction was necessary because the bank had called the mortgage and the hope was the property may be easier to sell if it is vacant. However, when contacted Wednesday, the owner stated that he and his partners are taking a different direction with the property now. “We will renovate the place and in the next three months, there will be a nice building on the corner,” said the owner, who asked not to be identified. “We won’t sell it right away, maybe some time in the future.” The property will no longer be used as a hotel and will be marketed as apartments. “We will likely hire a company to rent it out for us and it will be run totally different,” said the owner.