As many as 100 Moncton rooming houses don’t meet current fire codes and four of them have been shut down in the past two weeks, according to Fire Marshal Charlie LeBlanc.
He says the homes were in “deplorable shape.”
“This is their homes and this is all they have so for us it breaks our hearts because I know that they may be moving somewhere else where the conditions are similar,” LeBlanc said.
He expects more rooming houses will be boarded up in the coming months. He estimates as many as 1,000 people are living in unsafe conditions in the city.
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The City of Moncton is pushing for the province to pass legislation requiring landlords to register their rooming houses, which would force them to meet minimum standards.
“It really limits us to set in place certain regulations to make sure that the houses are habitable and that they are safe and secure,” Kayle Breelove Carter, community development and social inclusion officer for the city, said.
Leblanc says cracking down on slumlords is a good thing. But he says if it happens too quickly, rooming house tenants may have no place else to go.
“In my opinion there is not enough affordable housing in Moncton to house these people,” LeBlanc said.
Charles Burrell, from the Humanity Project, helps to house and feed homeless people in Moncton.
He says he’s already seen a 30 per cent increase the number of people he serves after the four rooming houses were boarded up in the past two week. Burrell predicts more closures will lead to a homeless crisis.
“You add another 100 or 200 people … our city does not have affordable housing for them. We are going to have a huge problem,” Burrell said.
Breelove Carter says the city is working on a long-term plan. Aside from pushing the province for improved rooming house regulations, they’re also working to increase the number of safe and affordable housing units in the city.
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