'Very upset': Senior housing residents plead for Sask. Housing Corporation to rebuild after winter fire
Former residents of a Carievale seniors housing complex want the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation (SHC) to reconsider its decision to demolish the home.
Ten out of 14 suites at Cari-Villa, a social housing building for low-income seniors, suffered damage in a fire in January.
Ever since, the residents have been waiting for the SHC to decide if it will rebuild.
On Wednesday, the residents got an answer.
“We are not going to be rebuilding as the cost to rebuild Cari-Villa as it was is significant, and we have a high number of vacancies in the area,” said Roger Parenteau, executive director of housing operations with the SHC.
The SHC is giving the village the option to attain the property and take it over.
“If this isn’t feasible for the community, our plan will be to continue to keep the four remaining Cari-Villa units in our portfolio, and demolish the portion that was destroyed in the fire and remediate the site,” Parenteau said.
The announcement was made Wednesday evening at a meeting with the SHC, members of the village council and the Carievale Housing Authority (CHA).
Wendy Paul, the manager for the CHA, said they were given less than 24 hours notice of the meeting, and she is not happy with the outcome.
“I was very upset, very angry. I didn’t think it was fair,” Paul said.
“(The residents) have been through a lot the last two years with COVID and with the fire. This was just one more big kick for them to take.”
The fire displaced nine residents. Support was provided to help everyone connect with other social housing options in the area, according to the SHC statement.
Seven of the impacted tenants chose to continue accessing social housing and were relocated to other vacant housing units in Carievale and surrounding communities, Parenteau said, and the other two tenants chose to reside with family.
At least three of the residents had to move out of the community to find a new home, according to the CHA.
Patricia Henderson, who lived in Cari-Villa for almost a year, had to move into a small house with higher rent in Carievale. She said she is fortunate, but it does not feel like home.
“It is comfortable, but I want to be back with my family,” she said.
“I’m 79 years old. I’ve been paying taxes all those years. And now when I need my government, they say, ‘Nope, sorry we can’t do it because the bottom line won’t allow it,’” Henderson said.
Cathy Finkle, 77, temporarily moved in with her daughter and son-in-law. She was hopeful that her next move would be back into Cari-Villa, the place she had called home for five years.
“I don’t want to live anywhere else,” Finkle said. “It was everything. I loved every minute I was there. I felt at home. I felt secure.”
The residents and housing authority want the SHC to reconsider its decision.
The boiler room and one suite suffered the majority of the damage, Paul said, and most of the building is completely intact.
Linda Ewert Minshull, the village administrator, said council is discussing its options, but needs more information from the SHC before it can make a decision.
“We’re going to try with our every effort, but it’s not much of an option,” Ewert Minshull said. “You can’t throw something like that at a little village with no notice. There are no reserves.”
She said the housing corporation has tried to get the village to take over the villa in the past.
The SHC did not provide a purchase price for the building.
“If it’s our only option, we’ve got to try something,” Ewert Minshull said.
Carievale is located in the southeast corner of the province with a population of approximately 250 people.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.