Tenants evicted from New Waterford apartment building seek answers
CBC
Residents of a New Waterford, N.S., apartment complex are still looking for answers after being evicted last week when a municipal fire inspector deemed the property unsafe.
About 20 people were displaced from a 12-unit building on King Street on Friday. After being put up in a hotel over the weekend, one couple is still waiting to find out whether they'll have a roof over their heads.
Tarra MacIntyre said she and her partner have the clothes on their backs and a few other necessities, but they do not know if or when they'll be able to return to their unit.
"It is literally a mess," she said of the apartment building. "There's the laundry room … [it] has no ceiling."
On Monday evening MacIntyre was calling several agencies to find out where she would spend the night. "I was going to call the Red Cross to see if they're going to help. I have no idea where I'm going to go."
An order to vacate was issued under the Nova Scotia Fire Safety Act by the provincial Office of the Fire Marshal at the request of a fire inspector with the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
The province said this means no one can live in the building until the owner is able to make repairs. The municipality has not yet said why the building was deemed unsafe.
MacIntyre said the building had some flooding in late 2021 that was never addressed. A number of units also have mould, and she said maintenance was never completed.
Kendra Coombes, the MLA for Cape Breton Centre-Whitney Pier, said she was at the building Friday when people were forced out, and the situation highlights a growing problem around housing in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
"Sometimes there's just no words to describe it, because of how housing is right now. We are in a full housing crisis here in CBRM," she said.
Coombes said the need for housing is high in rural communities outside the Halifax region, and more needs to be done to help the vulnerable population.
A spokesperson for the Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing said measures to vacate an entire building are "reserved for situations where the safety of individuals is at high risk."
Coombes said more also needs to be done to make sure inspections are happening at buildings on a regular basis to ensure people, especially those who are marginalized, aren't forced from their homes because of neglect.
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