Pointe homes caught up in injunction battle
Residents will learn Wednesday if they must evacuate 24 hours later
Whether or not a city of Montreal evacuation notice is enforced on two Pointe- St-Charles residential buildings will be decided in court on Wednesday, a mere 24 hours before tenants are expected to be forced out of their homes.
The city sent residents of two buildings on Centre and Châteauguay Sts. evacuation notices on Jan. 31, noting the buildings are unsafe to live in and giving tenants until Thursday to leave. But given the short notice and time of the year, several residents say relocating has been impossible.
On Monday, Manuel Johnson, a lawyer representing some of the tenants, sought a provisional injunction in court, arguing the landlord who runs both buildings should financially compensate them if the evacuation does occur.
But the matter was pushed back to Wednesday after a lawyer representing landlord Robert Spiro Zaphiratos said he intends to seek his own injunction — this time to have the city of Montreal ordered to either cancel or delay the evacuation, stating that necessary repairs have been made to the buildings in the last 10 days.
It has all left the fate of the tenants, several of them vulnerable and living on low incomes, to be decided one day before the evacuation is expected to take place.
“I have no idea what to do,” said Steven Latimer, 47, who has lived in the Centre St. building for a dozen years.
Latimer, who relies on social assistance for his income, applied for social housing two years ago and plans to see if he’s still eligible. In the meantime, he has searched for housing online but struggled to find anything in his budget.
Apartments available in the area — he has lived in Pointe-St-Charles his entire life — are all at least a few hundred dollars more than the $500 he pays for his threeand-a-half apartment, he said.
“I don’t want to live on the street,” Latimer said. “That’s my biggest fear.”
The court order Johnson is seeking, if granted, would not delay the evacuations, but would help tenants through them.
Johnson argues each tenant should be paid roughly $3,000 to compensate for the first 10 days following their departure. The sum was calculated by considering hotel, food, transportation and storage costs.
“We just want to make sure they have a place to go,” Johnson said. “That they’re safe and housed in a warm place on Thursday.”
Johnson also criticized the city ’s “sudden urgency” in calling for the evacuations with such short notice, noting the city has known about issues with the buildings for at least seven years.
“It seems unacceptable that they’ve let this get to the point that people’s lives are in danger,” he said, “and then only gave them three weeks to find a new place to live.”
A city of Montreal spokesperson said the evacuations are a matter of safety. The city’s first intervention with the buildings, for maintenance and sanitary issues, happened in 2010.
In more recent inspections, the city said, it found the buildings’ fire exits didn’t comply with regulations. The city also said the buildings have various electrical issues, traces of water infiltration, mould, and vermin and rodent problems.
“The tenants who received the evacuation notice all received the reference number of the Montreal Municipal Housing Office (OMHM), which can offer them a support service to help them during this period,” wrote city spokesperson Jules Chamberland-Lajoie in an email response.
“This service is funded by the city of Montreal so that no tenant is left on the street following our interventions.”
On Monday, lawyer Bruce Taub said Zaphiratos was sent a notice by the city on Jan. 23 concerning work that needed to be done on the buildings after a December inspection. He said the city had found more than 120 issues that needed to be addressed.
“My client has carried out the work as necessary,” he said.
Asked about compensating tenants, Taub said his client would respect any court order rendered, but stopped short of saying what he would do of his own volition to help them if the buildings are evacuated. Zaphiratos could not be reached for comment on Monday.