Long legal battle ahead for Kelowna residents displaced by UBCO downtown highrise

Residents in an affordable housing building in downtown Kelowna had to evacuate their homes in April, and their legal battle is just getting started. Hadgraft Wilson Place is an affordable housing complex geared towards people with fixed incomes or disabilities. Residents in the building had to leave their homes when the UBC Okanagan’s downtown tower project damaged the building while excavating for a parking garage. Hagraft Wilson Place residents filed a class action lawsuit against the university’s subsidiary UBC Properties Trust, the City of Kelowna and several other contractors and companies back in May.  Darren Kautz, a lawyer working on the lawsuit for the displaced residents, said court proceedings could take years if a settlement can’t be negotiated. “It really depends whether or not we have to go through full hearings or not. But the average is definitely going to be a couple of years if it has to go fully through the courts and there are no negotiations,” Kautz said. Kautz said there's a conference on Dec. 16 in Vancouver to determine the next steps in the case. Monique Saebels, a spokesperson for the residents, said a lot of them are still struggling not only because housing is hard to come by, but because Hadgraft Wilson Place was a community. “As we're coming into the holiday season, a lot of these people don't have families and the great thing about our community was last year at this time we're helping everybody decorate their suites, we're having potluck dinners, we even had a big Christmas dinner for those who didn't have any family,” she said. READ MORE: UBCO’s engineering report on downtown building came with warnings https://infotel.ca/newsitem/ubcos-engineering-report-on-downtown-building-came-with-warnings/it105130 The geotechnical engineering report for the 40-storey UBCO downtown tower said there was a possibility neighbouring buildings could be damaged during the excavation process. Several neighbouring buildings were damaged during the excavation, and are now demolished, but construction continues.  Hadgraft Wilson Place residents, and the building’s operator Pathways Abilities Society, reported cracks and damage long before it became so extensive that the building had to be evacuated. Following the evacuation residents lived in limbo, unsure of what will happen to their homes, and found it difficult to find an affordable place to live during a housing crisis. There are even some former residents with disabilities who haven’t been able to find suitable housing in Kelowna. “People are getting worried that they're gonna run out of money and that they're not gonna be able to sustain their rentals and also we have two people in wheelchairs that still haven't found appropriate housing in Kelowna,” she said. “They can't operate in their suites. They can't reach their cupboards, in the bathrooms it's hard for them to transfer. All those things.” Saebels said she’s disappointed in the response from the government. READ MORE: UBCO faces another lawsuit over downtown Kelowna highrise construction https://infotel.ca/newsitem/ubco-faces-another-lawsuit-over-downtown-kelowna-highrise-construction/it104874 “We're just frustrated because, you know, I've contacted every government official right up to Justin Trudeau, Minister of Housing, and I just get these generic letters, and it's disheartening,” she said.  The lawsuit against UBC Properties Trust is still before the courts, but the company has started repairing Hadgraft Wilson Place and offered residents $12,000 in compensation in July. The university issued a statement regarding the repairs and payment, but did not directly take responsibility for the evacuation and said these actions will not affect residents’ ability to seek reparations in court. In July Steven Wolfe, another resident of Hadgraft Wilson Place, said the $12,000 would come out of any settlement in the future even though it isn’t an admission of responsibility. The situation could take years to play out in court, and it’s unclear if Hadgraft Wilson Place can be repaired. “It's almost like we've been forgotten, but I do want them to know that we're still out there," Saebels said. Find past stories on Hagraft Wilson Place and the UBCO downtown highrise here https://infotel.ca/tag/hagraft-wilson-place . To contact a reporter for this story, email Jesse Tomas mailto:jtomas@infonews.ca  or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. Find our Journalism Ethics policy here. https://infotel.ca/newsitem/code-of-ethics/it106782 We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. 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