It seems like we've now hit the endpoint of a regulatory game that tried to mandate low cost housing without any expense to the government.   My understanding is that city and provincial regulations prevent these SRO properties from being converted to other purposes, and also put a cap on rent to align with the basic shelter allowance.   Pair a relatively low rent base with a challenging group of tenants, and you've basically guaranteed that the buildings will be poorly maintained.  In this case, it seems like there's also a particularly irresponsible landlord.  Now the city and provincial governments will actually have to do something. They'll either have to accept the loss of SROs as they now exist, raise the shelter rate, or take on the expense of expropriating and maintaining the SROs.