Tenants rally for rights after safety issues cause evacuation
Residents of Kensington Manor, forced from their homes almost a month ago over structural concerns, demanded better protection for renters as they rallied Saturday outside the apartment block.
Some of the former tenants, along with members of the Renters Action Movement, lined the sidewalk along 10th Street N.W., holding placards bearing such phrases as “safe affordable secure housing is a human right” and “does rent include structural integrity.”
Kate Jacobson, spokeswoman for the Renters Action Movement, said the group is calling for a review of the Residential Tenancies Act.
“We believe that the laws should protect tenants when situations like this happen,” she said.
“That’s things like requiring landlords to provide them with emergency accommodation, with recompense for the stress caused.”
Evacuated resident Alison McIntosh, who held a sign saying “I used to live here,” said when she came home from work on Nov. 23, the building was cordoned off and surrounded by emergency vehicles. She was told to pack what she could for 24 hours.
“It ended up being about … 10 days before I could go back in,” she said. “And so I was just living with a friend in her living room for 10 days and then moved into an apartment with nothing in it — had to borrow an air mattress from my brand-new neighbour, who I’d never met. My landlady lent me a bunch of stuff and I just camped out in an empty place for a week before I was finally able to go in and get my actual possessions.”
Tenants were given their damage deposits back, one week’s rent and a $250 cheque, she said.
“Which, obviously, doesn’t even begin to cover most people’s moving costs and the costs of higher rent,” she said. “Because people who want to stay in the neighbourhood, this was a fairly affordable option, and those are few and far between.”
She added most of the tenants who have been rehoused have left the neighbourhood, while others are still looking for a place to live and some have left Calgary.
“It’s been very disruptive, especially with such short notice,” she said.
Dylan Lambert said when he got home from school on Nov. 23, he was told by emergency officials the building had been deemed structurally unsafe and that it had to be evacuated in the next 15 minutes.
He and his wife, Cristina Vallejo, who are now staying with Lambert’s parents and renting a storage locker for their belongings, weren’t able to get back into the building for about two weeks.
“It was very stressful because they gave us about four hours to pack,” Vallejo said.
She noted that when they returned to collect their things, their apartment had the most shoring in place of any units on the floor, with reinforcements in every room.
“It was definitely a traumatic experience,” she said. “When you rent, you’re sure that if a place is for rent that it’s safe,” she said.
A spokesperson for the property management company could not immediately be reached for comment.
The laws should protect tenants when situations like this happen. ... like requiring ... recompense for the stress caused.