Summerside tenants in low-income housing frustrated after being told to remove sheds

Summerside Housing Authority tenants have been told to remove sheds they've added to the properties they rent by the end of July.

Some tenants worry that will set them back on their journey to get out of provincial government subsidized housing.

Victoria Cahill uses a small shed on the property she rents to store things she's accumulated over the last four years of living in subsidized housing.

"Leaving my kids' toys outside, leaving all my smaller assets such as my snowblower… my lawnmower… just leaving everything outside to be stolen. Theft is really big around here and we are concerned about our things, our belongings," Cahill said, adding she can't store things such as her lawnmower inside her home.

"I'm going to have to get rid of my kids' toys because they'll get stolen, so it's better to sell them."

Cahill hopes to eventually buy her own home. The plan was to take the shed and the belongings inside it with her, she said.

The housing authority collects rents and manages properties for the provincially subsidized rental units. A letter given on May 5 said Cahill and others who have put sheds up on their rental properties will have to take the structures down.

"We are sympathetic to tenants' desires to have shed/outbuildings as additional storage however, with it comes risk. After much discussion between [Prince Edward Island Housing Corporation], Risk Management and Board of Directors, tenants are prohibited from having any type of shed or outbuilding on the rental properties," the letter said.

"It will be the responsibility of the tenant to have their shed/outbuilding removed from the rental properties no later than July 31 2025 — no exceptions."

Some tenants have already torn down their sheds, Cahill said, adding she knows of about 20 tenants who have been asked to get rid of their structures.

"They are about $200 to $300 per shed to move. We're low-income, so there are a lot of people who cannot afford to have them moved and selling stuff is pretty hard. We have a lot of seniors that don't know how to work online and they can't sell them on [Facebook] Marketplace and whatnot," Cahill said.

Maxine Paynter also lives in a unit managed by the housing authority. She raised her kids in the home and her husband built a shed on the property, but he died just before Christmas.

Paynter said they put the shed up to store their lawnmower, generators and her kids' and husband's bikes, and other things that can't go into the basement.

"I don't know how I am going to do it," Paynter said. "I had to sell my generators. I had to sell my lawnmower. That's everything me and my husband bought together," adding she has to get rid of her bikes because she has to keep the basement open for fire safety reasons.

Having to move the shed is causing a lot of stress, Paynter said.

"I am trying so hard to make things work," she said.

"I can't afford to get that moved. I can't."

Both Paynter and Cahill say they had discussions with their landlord about putting sheds on site and were given the go-ahead. Cahill believes the reason she's being asked to remove the shed is due to insurance.

"It could be a liability. Someone could set it on fire, there could be combustibles in it. There could be anything in it that they don't want. It's just more liability for them," Cahill said, adding that fires could happen to any shed.

There are several privately owned homes on the same street Cahill lives on with sheds in their backyard.

CBC News asked staff and board members with the housing authority why the decision was made to remove sheds, but no one was made available for an interview.

In an email, officials with the province said Steven Myers, minister of housing, is currently reviewing the decision.

Cahill and Paynter worry that if people don't get rid of their sheds, eviction notices could follow.

"We came into this from an unsafe home that was full of asbestos and whatnot. We were safe, we had recreation activity, we're not allowed pools or firepits anymore. Now it's minibarns. It's wrecking my kids' outside play and we're trying to keep them out of screen time," Cahill said.

She is grateful for her living situation overall and the rent she pays, but said that means most people will get rid of their sheds because they can't afford market rent, Cahill said.