Former residents of Hadgraft Wilson Place lost affordable housing and their tight-knit community

In the nine and a half months it was opened, the 84 residents of Hadgraft Wilson Place developed a tight-knit community, supporting each other in times of need. But that community was shattered when the residence was evacuated last Easter after the nearby construction of the UBCO tower damaged the building.

As former tenants now wait for the courts to possibly certify a class-action lawsuit against the City of Kelowna, UBC Properties Investments and others, they're scattered across the Central Okanagan, forced to pay far more rent than they were at Hadgraft Wilson.

“The holiday season will be tough this year for a lot of the evacuees from Hadgraft Wilson Place,” said Megan Beckmann, a mother of two and former tenant of the building.

“A lot of us are paying double and triple the rent that we were paying before and several haven't found truly accessible housing. I think the developers and the city should learn from our story and hopefully be more careful with future development.”

Strength in diversity

Hadgraft Wilson Place was opened in June 2023 by Pathways Abilities Society, providing 68 affordable rental units. Beckmann said the tenants were a diverse group of people, and included single parents, seniors and people with disabilities. Eight of the units were completely wheelchair accessible.

Several tenants of the building told Castanet last week that that diversity was key to building such a strong sense of community in the building.

“We were so happy in there, for seniors to have a place we could spend our last years. We were such a community, we knew we would have support within and we could help others,” said Bonnie Baker.

“Being included in the group because we're seniors, everybody had different strengths to help each other, it just worked so well ... [It] seemed to be perfect in every way.”

Monique Saebels says the tenants quickly became a family.

“A lot of people in this building had no family,” she said. “It's an incredible feeling to know that someone has your back. You need something, someone falls, they call someone, 'Hey can you help me up, I fell out of my wheelchair.' The dynamics we had here were incredible.”

Saebels says one of the former tenants is currently living in a women's shelter.

'I'm not in an accessible place'

Amanda Harrison has been using a wheelchair for three years and prior to moving to Hadgraft Wilson Place, she was living at an assisted living facility.

“I knew I wanted to be more independent and it wasn't really the right fit,” she said.

She moved into Hadgraft Wilson Place in September 2023, where was able to live completely independently. Harrison told Castanet about how she baked Christmas treats last year and delivered them throughout her building.

“I was able to provide the baking and see the joy on everyone's face as I delivered it,” she said. “I'm missing ... being a helping hand. If I need help with something or if I knew someone else needed help, we were all there for each other.”

But since Harrison was evacuated last spring, she's struggled.

“It's not accessible and I pay triple the amount of what I paid here,” she says of her current residence.

“I would like to be back at my home. It's hard going past here watching the construction behind me [on the UBCO tower] continuing as we're scattered everywhere and I'm not in an accessible place.”

Former residents of the building feel overlooked throughout the whole process, dating back to when cracks first started appearing in the walls of their units.

“The first contact we had after we were trying to get people to look at the cracks ... was the day they told us we had to leave,” Baker said. “That was the first we heard and things were pretty serious by then.

“Is it acceptable for companies, for organizations that have deep pockets to let a non-profit and 84 tenants to suffer the losses on their own – the financial, emotional, everything. I just don't know if that's really acceptable.”

Few options in town

After they were kicked out of their homes with little notice, the former residents have come face-to-face with the lack of affordable and accessible housing in Kelowna.

“I'm looking around at all these high rises and asking myself, 'Do they have accessible housing, how many affordable units are there in these buildings?' And I pretty much think the answer is not any,” Saebels said.

"It's not just people and money, it's actually people and what they need to live. Everyone wants a roof over their head."

Beckmann added that everyone just wants to return home to Hadgraft Wilson Place, but no one had told them when, or even if that will ever be possible.

“I think there should be more buildings like Hadgraft Wilson Place where people can make a community and be able to afford to live and not be threatened by the cost,” she said.

Possible class-action lawsuit

Darren Kautz, a partner at FH&P Lawyers, is working to get the tenants' lawsuit certified as a class-action suit. While he was unable to provide any timeline of the process, he said a case planning conference is scheduled for the matter later this month.

Both the City of Kelowna and Geopacific Consultants Ltd. have filed responses to the lawsuit, denying any liability for the damage to Hadgraft Wilson Place. UBC Properties Investments have yet to file a formal response.