There's no place like home for the holidays.

But Kelowna's Hadgraft Wilson Place evacuees are worried they'll never go home as city council approves another tower neighbouring the low-income and accessible apartment building. 

Mission Group gained approval from the city to construct a 40-storey tower on St. Paul Street, neighbouring the University of B.C. Okanagan downtown Kelowna campus construction. University construction created ground vibrations and shifting of nearby buildings, causing structures to deteriorate and unsafe for occupancy. 

Paul Stackhouse is a wheelchair user and was excited to move into the Bertram Ave apartment in 2023 built specifically with his needs in mind. He's now in an apartment that isn't built for a wheelchair user and is paying significantly more than rent at Hadgraft. 

"To be perfectly honest, there are no accessible places to live in Kelowna," Stackhouse said. "They're very sought after and cherished places... I had my forever home at Hadgraft Wilson."

Residents had less than one year in the brand new low-income apartments before being notified on Easter Sunday, March 31, that they had 48 hours to pack up and move out.

At the time, the tenants were told to plan for two weeks out of their home. After living in various hotels around the Central Okanagan, Hadgraft residents were temporarily put up in Okanagan College dorms. Their time at the college expired as the institute geared up to welcome students back to campus and all Hadgraft Wilson residents were left to find a new rental in Kelowna's costly market. 

"I'm absolutely furious," Stackhouse said about the approved tower. "It just shows the greed of our city council and the complete lack of care and attention to the [Hadgraft Wilson Place tenants]. We lost our home. It's devastating and I'm heartbroken."

Mission Group President Luke Turri told Black Press he shares the same worries as his neighbours. 

"We will always try to make sure that our construction is done in a way that meets and exceeds best practices and does not have impacts on our surrounding neighbours," Turri stated. 

The tower will add about 400 rental units at market value in the downtown area. When asked about creating accessible units Turri said, "We're still working through finalizing the designs of the suites and we'll take that into consideration. 

"This building will go through exhaustive engineering and peer reviews... to ensure the stability for the site and for the surrounding properties." Turri added that the new build does not include underground parking and avoids deep excavation. 

Although Mission Group received a thumbs up from council at their Nov. 25 meeting, Councillors Ron Cannan, Charlie Hodge, and Gord Lovegrove voted against the build. 

The fate of the Hadgraft Wilson Place building remains unknown.