Peering inside the Atira-B.C. Housing scandal with staff, tenants and critics

In 1992, the Atira Transition House Society, as it was then known, had just one supported-housing building and only seven staff when Janice Abbott took over. Abbott would spend the next three decades moulding the non-profit into B.C.’s largest publicly funded supportive-housing provider, with more than 1,000 employees and nearly 30 buildings.

During Abbott’s early years at the helm, Atira made headlines as a progressive agency fighting for women’s rights. She spoke out in 1993 about the lack of safe housing for women fleeing violence; in 1994, Atira destroyed sexual assault victims’ counselling records to stop lawyers from subpoenaing them; and in 1995, Abbott raised concerns about immigrant women finding it hard to leave violent relationships because of isolation.

In later years, the non-profit, now known as Atira Women’s Resource Society, and its for-profit property management arm, Atira Property Management Inc., made headlines for different reasons.

Atira’s Winters Hotel burned to the ground in April 2022, killing two tenants and leaving 70 others temporarily homeless. Some former tenants filed a class-action lawsuit, alleging that substandard fire safety measures put them at risk.