Operator defends former Howard Johnson hotel blamed for Granville Street disorder – BC [Video]

On the second floor of the Luugat SRO in the former Howard Johnson hotel on Vancouver’s Granville strip, a memorial wall honours the lives lost since the building became supportive housing.

“Those are most of my friends from Strathcona,” resident Douglas Ehret told Global News as he recited a handful of some of the two dozen names etched on the tribute.

Most of the individuals succumbed to toxic drugs said Ehret, while others had health issues.

Atira Women’s Resource Society, the non-profit which operates the BC Housing facility, said six deaths occurred at the Luugat in 2024 – half recorded as overdoses.

One of the people commemorated is resident Eric Buurman’s wife Andrea, who passed away a year ago.

“I got all of my wife’s stuff, I don’t know what to do you know, I mean, I still miss her so much,” said Buurman.

Ehret, who moved into the Luugat …