City says all former 1616 Ouellette Ave. tenants have housing, closes emergency shelter

The City of Windsor says all former tenants of a downtown building that was without appropriate water and electrical services now have places to stay, and it's closing an emergency shelter set up for them. 

About 45 residents of 1616 Ouellette Ave., displaced by ongoing issues, were staying at an emergency shelter run by the Red Cross at the Constable John Atkinson Memorial Community Centre. That shelter was originally supposed to close on Monday at 11 a.m., until the city pushed the deadline to Friday.

In a statement on Friday, the city said all of the people remaining at the emergency shelter "were offered alternate safe accommodation options today."

Maryann Pitts, who has been staying at the emergency shelter after being displaced from her apartment, said she's now moving to the iCheck Inn Motel.

CBC News spoke to her as she was getting ready to move to the motel, which she says the city told her she can stay in until Monday.

"Right now, it hasn't even clicked in yet. I can't believe they take people out of our homes, make us put our animals, you know, in the ... in the pound pretty much," Pitts said.

"It's just not right how they're doing this. I lost my animals, I lost my clothes, my apartment, I lost everything."

Pitts said she has mobility issues and is unable to walk easily. It's been difficult for her to see her pet guinea pigs, which are staying at the Windsor/Essex County Humane Society.

She said the city arranged for her to see an apartment, but it wasn't somewhere she could stay.

'I don't know what's going to come out of this," Pitts said, adding she's paid her rent for the month of December.

After Monday, she's not sure where she will go.

"Tough life when they take you out of your own home," Pitts said. 

The city said there is still an order against occupancy for the Ouellette Avenue building and that it is working with the building's owners and management company to get repairs completed as soon as possible.

Last month, a project manager for 1616 Ouellette Ave. told CBC News those renovations could take up to eight months.

Marla Coffin, CEO of MARDA Management, which is overseeing work on the property, said the company is working to make minimal repairs so that residents can return as quickly as possible.

Coffin said there will still be more work to do after that, and the city will have to remove its order for residents to be able to move back in.

Kirk Whittal, Windsor's executive director of housing and children's services, said the city has been working to find housing for about 45 people.

"Everybody was pretty much given alternate housing that were staying at the shelter with us," he said.

As for Pitts, he said the city will continue to work with her over the weekend.

"Once 1616 reopens certainly people can retain their tenancy rights. People that wanted to leave, that's where we found alternate accommodations," said Whittal.

There was no firm number as to how many wanted to return or how many got new housing. The city confirmed that the building is being worked on.

"The landlord is making those improvements and we're hoping we're going to see the building kind of opening sooner, but that hasn't been finalized," he said.

After the repairs are completed the city will need to do another inspection to ensure it's safe for resident to return.

Coffin said that this weekend, work is being done to fix one of the building's boilers.