The difference a renovation can make

The space is about the size of a large storage locker, located at the end of a hallway with dirty, scuff-marked walls, and part of the entry door is boarded up.

But to Wayne Gaskin, it is a room of his own and he is happy to have it.

Gaskin, 45, is a resident of the Hazelwood, a 100-year-old building on East Hastings used by BC Housing as subsidized single-room accommodation for low-income clients. It is one of 13 such buildings scheduled to be renovated in the coming months at a cost of $116 million - $87 million of which will come from the province and $29 million from the federal government.

Inside, the hallways are well lit by the bare fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling and the space is well ventilated, although a mildly acidic smell can be detected in places. Several wooden door frames on one floor are damaged, particularly around the knobs, and a few doors are boarded up with plywood.

The age of the building is one factor that makes repairs there challenging and expensive, said Elizabeth Hardy, program manager at the Hazelwood, which is run by Atira Property Management. There are 110 units in the building, and the aging pipes were not designed to deal with that kind of volume, Hardy explained.

Backed-up toilets or showers cause flooding about once a month, and maintenance teams have to break down asbestos-containing walls in order to get at the pipes, which is both time-consuming and costly.

There is also damage inflicted by the tenants themselves, some of whom don't have the ability to keep a room in working order due to mental health challenges, Hardy said. In one recently vacated room that measured about 10 feet by 12 feet and contained a closet and a sink, the grey tile floors were covered with paint and old chewing gum, the baseboard heater had been pulled out of the wall, and wires dangled from where light fixtures had once been.

Pest control reports obtained by The Vancouver Sun also indicate that insects have been a persistent problem at the Hazelwood. A report dated Aug. 30, 2012 indicated that 31 of the 110 units contained live bed bugs. Several of the affected units had been identified by contractor Bugs Be Gone as being infested as far back as May 2011.

Hardy described pest control as an "ongoing challenge" experienced by operators of all single-room occupancy hotels in Vancouver. There are times when pest control companies are refused entry to the rooms by tenants or can't enter because the rooms are too cluttered, she said.

Even with all its problems, Gaskin said he much prefers the Hazelwood to his previous accommodation in homeless shelters. Small as the room is, it is his own space, with a television and a door that locks, he said.

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The difference a renovation can make