Jack Gates, a tenant leader at the Regent Hotel in Vancouver, and a member of the SRO Collaborative, won $1675 in a Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) decision in April.  The money is compensation for not having heat and hot water for over a year.  The RTB arbitrator also awarded Gates a rent reduction of $75 a month for each month when he doesn’t have hot water and $75 a month for each month that he doesn’t have heat.

“This is not just a victory for me. The victory is for all of us at the Regent and I hope now that I have led the way everyone in the Regent will follow me. We are people of God too, we need to live in a safe clean environment.  I say “hate the drug, not the person”. Stop taking advantage of us. God never gave up on me,  I’ll never give up on you.” – Jack Gates