Preferred Pacific Developments is suing Atira in B.C. Supreme Court. Read more.
A building restoration company that has been repairing Atira housing on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside for five years is suing B.C.’s largest non-profit landlord over hundreds of unpaid invoices.
Preferred Pacific Developments has filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court alleging that as of last June, Atira Women’s Resource Society and three subsidiaries had failed to pay 1,525 invoices totalling $5,647,488. And in September it had its send a demand letter for the payments.
One subsidiary, Atira Property Management, then paid $1,238,713 in 10 payments between mid September and the end of November, it said. In October, another subsidiary, the Atira Women’s Art Society, paid it $100,238, it said.
The Atira Women’s Resource Society owes $565,871 for work done in 2023 and as late as Dec. 4, 2024, and Atira Development Society owes $37,5000 for work done in 2023 and up to Dec. 4, 2024, the lawsuit alleged. The Atira Women’s Art Society still owed it $40,292 for work done between 2022 and early 2024, it said.
The total amount still owed by all four entities totalled $4,872,556 as of Dec. 6, 2024, the lawsuit said.
The work was done under a master agreement that the renovation company signed in 2019 with B.C. Housing, it said. B.C. Housing is not a party to the lawsuit, the lawsuit said.
“The defendants have breached the master agreement by failing to make full payment in regard to the said invoices and for continuing work,” the lawsuit alleges.
Atira CEO Donnie Rosa, who has been in the role for eight months, said by phone that Atira has been reviewing invoices to ensure the work matches what Atira was charged.
Rosa had no comment on whether the $5.6 million charged for building repairs over five years was reasonable or within budget for the stock it owns. A chief financial officer was hired on Tuesday, said Rosa.
None of the allegations have been proved in court.
“B.C. Housing is aware of the lawsuit which has been filed by Preferred Pacific Developments against Atira Women’s Resource Society and its subsidiaries,” the housing agency said in a statement emailed by communications manager Henry Glazebrook.
An identical statement was sent by Housing Ministry spokesman Liam Butler. They said neither the province nor B.C. Housing is a party to the claim and neither offered any comment on the lawsuit.
Preferred Pacific did not return a request for comment.
In April, Rosa replaced former longtime CEO Janice Abbott, who left a year earlier after becoming embroiled in a conflict-of-interest scandal.
In 2022, a rundown, privately owned hotel, Winters Hotel, which Atira was under government contract to operate, burned down, killing two of its vulnerable tenants.
A coroner’s inquest jury last year called for major changes, including upgrading fire precautions in these old buildings. And advocates continue to demand justice for the fire victims.
In the last fiscal year, the agency received $79 million in government funding, operated more than 3,000 housing units and provided services to more than 10,000 people.
It primarily serves women, children and gender-diverse people, and offers them safe housing and protection from violence. It also runs many programs for its tenants, including counselling, legal clinics, life skills training and early learning centres for children.
With a file from Lori Culbert