Residents displaced from a Miramichi apartment that didn’t pass fire safety inspection are trying to figure out what’s next.
On Monday, an emergency shelter set up by the Canadian Red Cross at nearby James M. Hill Memorial High School will close due to the Department of Social Development cutting off funding.
Notice was given to residents over a week ago.
Carla Gillies is one of the displaced tenants who is living in a tent in the backyard of the apartment.
“It’s been really tiring back and forth travelling to the school to get meals,” she says. “I choose to stay here, I prefer to stay here (rather) than sleeping in the gymnasium with everybody, so it’s just been tough, I’m tired.”
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Bus tickets have been offered to tenants who choose to stay at a shelter in another New Brunswick city such as Moncton, Saint John or Fredericton.
Many of the residents have low incomes, adding to the challenge of finding a new place.
But for those who are tenting and aren’t willing to leave all their belongings behind, they might have another hurdle coming their way.
“Next month, social development intends to stop our cheques … because we don’t have a registered address,” says Mary Robinson, who has been staying in a tent with her dog. “What do we do then?”
“We have one more cheque and then that’s it.”
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The Department of Social Development says in a statement that it’s working with displaced tenants, but emergency support is intended for “short durations in emergency circumstances.”
“Case managers are and will continue working with income assistance clients while other residents have been encouraged to apply for housing with the department,” the statement from Abigail McCarthy, a spokesperson for the department, reads. “Several have found alternate housing to date.”
Tenants told Global News Sunday that about seven people slept at the shelter Saturday night, and at least two of them will be joining others in setting up tents.
Steve MacDonald, who was also displaced, was picked up and is staying with a friend in Moncton.
All he could leave with was his TV and a box of clothes.
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“Why did we deserve to have to relocate hours away from our homes and have to abandon everything behind?” MacDonald questions.
He’s trying to find other accommodations, but says it’s been a challenge to find affordable options.
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Brian Grosseth, the building’s owner, says it feels like he’s being targeted by fire officials.
Part of the to-do list includes new doors, and those will take eight weeks on order and two or three weeks after to install, he says.
“I’m not sure what’s going on,” Grosseth says. “The other building identical to ours has the same doors.”
In a phone interview Friday, the chief of the Miramichi Fire Department said Grosseth was making progress.
“There’s still little bits and pieces,” Chief Tony Lloyd said. “(Grosseth has) come a long ways, but there’s still a ways to go.”
As for the tenants sleeping in tents, they’re just trying to make the best of a bad situation.
“I have no idea what’s going to happen next,” Robinson says. “One day at a time.”
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