At last, a healthy place to live
Ottawa Housing agrees to move family
Step into Melissa Lepine’s tidy Ritchie Street townhouse and it doesn’t take long to realize she and her three children should not be living there.
A foul musty smell fills the air. In her basement, the odour is nauseating. What appears to be black mould is growing here and there on the basement walls.
Water has been permeating her basement floor for much of the past 2 1/2 years. It is not a problem during the winter, when, she suspects, the ground freezes and whatever water is still under the concrete is expelled by sump pumps. But that horrible odour has remained. It started when puddles of water began forming on the basement floor in the spring of 2011, a few months after she and the children moved into Britannia Woods, an Ottawa Community Housing development near Carling Avenue and Pinecrest Road.
Lepine says everyone in the family started experiencing throat and nose problems, though she didn’t immediately connect the ailments to the basement.
Ottawa Housing says almost $7 million has been spent fixing up the 178-unit property over the last few years. The work included drainage improvements, landscaping, new roofs and windows, and refurbished kitchens and bathrooms.
Lepine’s unit had been empty for months before she moved in, and a neighbour says there was considerable drainage work done around the cluster of townhouses where her home is located. Those units are below a park that is on considerably higher ground. Her townhouse is closest. It sits a few metres from the bottom of a slope.
It is surprising that Lepine and her family are still living in the unit despite her repeated requests to Ottawa Housing to move them. Nothing has worked to stop the water problem. Sump pumps — one was installed about a year ago and a second in early July — have been drawing water from under the basement floor, but puddles still form on the surface during the warmer months.
“They say they want to be sure they can’t fix the problem before they move us,” says Lepine.
She says her children, Jadyn, eight, Kylia, seven, and Julissa, five, continue to cough, and complain about stuffy noses and sore throats. Jadyn has also been suffering from headaches. Lepine says her lungs feel heavy and she has a cough.
These are fairly typical symptoms when mould is present. Ottawa Housing thinks it is mildew, based on an inspection in 2012 by the city’s public health department, before the first sump pump was installed. Regardless, both are types of fungi and cause some similar ailments. And mildew can eventually turn into mould if it isn’t eradicated.
Lepine feels she has been “talked down to” because of her complaints. Lepine says she was told by a manager at Ottawa Housing that she was “entitled” to her opinion that black mould was in her basement — but it was only her opinion.
She was asked to put shelving on the basement walls to store possessions rather than leave them on the floor. Lepine had moved what was in the basement to one side where the floor appeared to be dry. Just the same, everything felt damp and smelled, so she threw it all out this week. She had already pitched an old couch from the basement when she found black stains on the material. Again, she suspected mould.
“You don’t have to be a specialist to know these things,” says Lepine. “These are not proper living conditions. … I think (Ottawa Housing is) taking the situation too lightly.”
Two nurses at the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health in Vanier provided letters expressing their concerns. “It is dangerous for humans to live in such an environment.” wrote one.
Jo-Anne Poirier, Ottawa Community Housing’s chief executive, was briefed about the situation after The Public Citizen contacted her office. She says staff continues to monitor the problem and is trying to resolve it.
“We are looking for a permanent solution and we are looking to see if it would be possible to transfer the family (during repairs). … I don’t want to be patching something and it continues to be a problem.” She says for whatever reason, Lepine’s basement has continued to be susceptible to water entry.
The day after The Public Citizen spoke to Poirier, a fan and dehumidifier were delivered to Lepine’s home by the property manager. He then gave her some good news: The family was approved for a permanent transfer.
An ecstatic Lepine was waiting to view a vacant townhouse at Christie Place, on Draper Avenue, near Greenbank Road. Lepine says she already took a peek at the townhouse by looking through the windows, and likes what she saw. The unit is ready for occupancy.
Meanwhile, Lepine says her next-door neighbour at Britannia Woods is experiencing water problems in her basement, too. Lepine says she saw shallow puddles appearing on the side of the basement closest to her unit.
Her neighbour, a longtime resident of Britannia Woods, has yet to complain, she says, so Lepine urged her to speak up so something can be done.
BRITON STILL CAN’T WORK
British photographer Ed Gold is getting a 10-year extension on his U.S. visa. But his plan to complete a book project on a remote Alaskan village is up in the air because U.S. Immigration says he cannot receive any salary — including advances and royalties — through his tentative U.S. publisher.
In order to earn money for his work, Gold says he was told by the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa that he would have to be considered “an alien of extraordinary ability” — essentially someone whose work could not be duplicated by an American. With his visitor’s visa set to expire in mid-August, Gold travelled more than 6,000 kilometres by motorcycle this month from Anchorage to Ottawa.
So it appears as if Gold will have to put the book on hold while he explores his options. He could apply for a visa that would allow him to work in the U.S.
Gold says he can’t just keep spending his savings on the project without bringing in some income. As well, there is the worry that every time he tries to re-enter the U.S. from abroad, he has to prove he has the funds to support himself while in the country.
Gold, 44, remains in the Ottawa area, waiting for documents from the U.S. Embassy. He’s not sleeping outdoors though, as he was when the Citizen reported his story on July 18. Some readers offered Gold free accommodation while he is in town.