Residents displaced by an apartment fire in Campbell River are running out of time to find new housing before funding for hotel accommodation runs out.
Some 85 residents were displaced when the Pacific Heights building went up in flames on April 8. They’ve been in a hotel, but the funding from the province’s emergency support services ends on Wednesday.
Shaun Koopman, protective services co-ordinator for the Strathcona Regional District, said the majority of residents have been unable to find new homes and are at risk of homelessness.
“Rent was hard to find here in Campbell River even before COVID-19,” he said.
Emergency services would normally set up cots in a large space, such as a gymnasium, but that’s not an option during the pandemic, Koopman said.
That leaves people such as 82-year-old Cecil Podworny with just a few days to find a home.
“I’m a little bit anxious,” said Podworny, who escaped the fire with his dogs and nothing else.
Podworny had lived in the building for 20 years, which kept his rent low — $600 for a two-bedroom apartment.
He lives on his old-age pension, and his friends, like many in the building, are on social assistance, he said.
If Podworny can’t find somewhere by Wednesday, he can stay temporarily in a friend’s empty motorhome.
“I’d say 50 per cent feel they have no place to go,” he said. “Just about everybody is struggling.”
Koopman is urging the provincial and federal governments to provide funding to keep people in hotels until the end of May to give them more time to find new homes.
Residents have faced a number of challenges, including a lack of internet access with libraries closed and loss of identification in the fire, Koopman said.
“So many social, cultural, technological barriers that these people are facing, mostly due to COVID,” he said.
