The owner of an aging hotel on Salt Spring Island, B.C. has decided to sell the property and move on. The issue with the sale is that the property is currently home to 20 vulnerable people that would otherwise be homeless, and that has those residents fearing that they will end up on the streets.
“This is my home,” said Debbie Brisson. “I made it my home.”
The Seabreeze Inne has been her home for the last 14 months.
Brisson, who has terminal cancer, fears that once the hotel sells, she will be left without a home.
“Where do I go, downtown?” said Brisson.
Rich Bahry is another resident that fears the worst.
“I’ve lost one leg and the other one is going, I can just barely get around,” he said.
“There’s no way I’m living on the streets. If I leave here I will be dead within a week.”
BC Housing and Salt Spring Community Services has been renting rooms in the hotel since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hotel’s agreement with BC Housing expires on Dec. 31, and the owner has decided to sell the property to the island’s medical centre.
