Vancouver graffiti artist Smokey D's latest mural is spotlighting high rents and abysmal conditions in the city's Single Room Occupancy buildings – saying he doesn’t think any civic official would be able to withstand a night in one.
On a piece of plywood on Carrall Street between East Pender and East Hastings streets, the piece features an image of a shirtless man with a bead of sweat running down his face giving a side-eyed glance at passersby.
"HOT Box. Four tiny walls. No windows. No air conditioning. $975 to $1150 a month. Roaches are free. Welcome to SRO living 2023," the text reads, the commentary coupled with a word of advice. "Stay Hydrated, Stay Cool," it adds.
While unsafe, unsanitary, cramped and dangerous conditions in these buildings are something that various levels of government have long acknowledged and vowed to address, Smokey D says he doesn’t think anyone in a position of power actually understands the experience of living in one. Poor ventilation, pest infestations, and shared bathrooms in severe states of disrepair are all things Smokey D says he knows are common. A lot of the rooms themselves, he describes as not much larger than a prison cell.
"I'd like to challenge (some of them) to actually go inside, to see if they can handle it, handle staying overnight, just to see what the experience would be like, to see how these people have to live every day and night, you know," he told CTV News.
"It's terrible man, it really is."
Smokey D has been described as the "Downtown Eastside's newspaper.” His art often draws attention to urgent issues in the neighbourhood and beyond such as toxic drug death, missing Indigenous women, homelessness and street sweeps. He says he tries to use pictures combined with a little bit of text in a way that will grab people's attention and help them understand a serious issue quickly.
"I just want society, just want people, to know what's going on," he says, explaining why he does what he does.
The municipal government is aware of both increasing rents and deteriorating conditions in this type of housing and the plan since at least 2017 has been to find a way to do away with it entirely, a recent report to council notes.
"The growing need for low-income housing has meant that we continue to rely on the SRO stock as a housing of last resort, despite its inherent challenges," it reads.
"The growing number of SRO building closures due to life safety issues or fires, the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2021 heat dome and the arctic cold snap during the winter of 2021/22 have all demonstrated the critical need to renew or replace this outdated housing stock," it continues.
Vancouver has roughly 6,500 units of SRO housing, roughly half of which are privately owned. In those buildings the number of rooms renting at the amount people on income assistance are given for shelter decreased from 1,700 in 2003 to 52 in 2023, the report says.
In the last three years, average rents in the private SRO stock increased by 21 per cent, from $561 to $681, while the number of rooms renting at twice the shelter rate increased by 18 per cent, from 769 to 911 rooms. Rents jumped more significantly, the report said, in buildings that changed hands.
