Sherri Loveday has until Nov. 15 to find a new place to live, and she does not yet know where that will be.
“I now know how the homeless feel being put out on the street, because we are,” said Loveday, one of the Rose Manor tenants still in a hotel one month after the Sept. 22 fire.
The District of Rainy River Services Board (DRRSB) says it cannot keep paying for hotel rooms once the insurance money covering them runs out Nov. 15.
“Our money comes from municipalities,” Chief Administrative Officer Charene Gillies said in an interview Monday. DRRSB has no money of its own to cover the cost of hotels for Rose Manor tenants, she said. Spending beyond the budget approved in January needs the board’s approval, she said, and for housing that means raising the municipal levy.
“It would come from municipal dollars, which means it would be transferred to taxpayers,” she said. “So we, the [DRRSB], can’t make that decision.”
In a follow-up email, Gillies said community housing is funded “largely by municipal contributions, and tenant rents with some legacy provincial and federal transfers for specific housing programs and specific purposes.” That money, she said, “rarely if ever” can be used as general revenue.
As a district services board, DRRSB has no charitable status and cannot fundraise, Gillies said.
The province gives it “just over $1 million” a year for homelessness prevention across the district. That funding “is intended to support programs that already exist in the district and is for the purposes of supporting all individuals in the district who are homeless or at risk of homelessness,” she said.
“As of November 15th, the [DRRSB] … cannot pay the hotel bill any longer,” Gillies said. The district has no emergency shelter, but the seasonal Out of the Cold Warming Centre opens Nov. 2.
“The Warming Centre is available, but our goal is to get people housed,” she said.
DRRSB said on Friday that 11 of the 31 displaced tenants had secured housing as of Oct. 22, and more have since. It has identified 35 housing opportunities across the district, and Gillies said DRRSB has been in conversations with the town and the province.
At a Rose Manor tenants’ meeting Wednesday, staff urged tenants to consider sharing homes or moving temporarily to Atikokan or Rainy River. “Is it ideal? No. But is it temporary? Yes,” DRRSB’s Lauralee Both said of shared housing.
Loveday was unconvinced. “Come on, we’ve just lost our lives,” she said.
“We present options; tenants have choices,” Gillies said. “Should the tenants choose to not take the housing options that have been made available, that’s their choice.”
Fellow tenant Allan McDowell moved into DRRSB’s Green Manor on Wednesday. “I’m lucky I got a place,” he said. But he left the meeting frustrated. “All the meetings, we ask questions and then never have answers.”
He said he spent weeks asking about DRRSB’s start-up fund, only to learn on Oct. 20 that it is reserved for tenants with a permanent place to move. Had he known sooner, he said, he would have waited for sales instead of spending it all on a single piece of furniture.
“I’m not saying it’s their fault. And I’m not saying they’re doing it on purpose,” he said. “But we’re the ones suffering because we are not told.”
McDowell also pointed to a clause in tenants’ leases saying DRRSB is not responsible for damage to their property “no matter what the cause is, unless it can be proven that our negligence was the sole cause.” DRRSB’s Lauralee Both said a report on how the fire started may take six to 12 months.
Until then, uninsured tenants cannot tell whether the clause leaves them any way to recover their losses. “Do we have to go to a lawyer to fight that or what?” Loveday asked. “And what’s it going to cost us?”
She has contacted an ombudsman and legal aid and is awaiting answers. “I don’t know who else to call,” she said. The Fire Marshal and DRRSB’s insurer, Intact, are both investigating.
Tenant insurance is strongly encouraged throughout the signing process but is not mandatory. On whether that should change, Gillies said, “We’ll look at it. There’s pros and cons.”
DRRSB said its homelessness prevention staff have been fully focused on tenants since Sept. 22. Those workers “are meeting with tenants regularly” and “are here to help tenants,” Gillies said.
McDowell said that his experience was most places on a landlord list were gone by the time tenants called. Gillies noted that at least three staff have worked almost full-time on finding units since the fire last month, but she expects landlords to rent to whoever accepts first. She also urged tenants to meet staff one-on-one, as “every tenant situation is different.”
Melissa Rae Pearson, whose mother is among the displaced tenants, asked at Wednesday’s meeting whether DRRSB could negotiate monthly hotel rates or seek provincial help.
“Displacing people is a very big deal, and moving two hours away is a very big deal,” she said.
Pearson has since started a GoFundMe campaign, “Help our Rose Manor neighbours get back on their feet,” which can be found at: gofundme.com/f/help-our-rose-manor-neighbours-get-back-on-their-feet.
For those who want to go home, Gillies was clear. “Once Rose Manor is open again, every tenant can return to Rose Manor who wants to,” she said. DRRSB says that is not expected “until well into 2027.”
DRRSB thanked Rainy River District Victim Services and the Rainy River District Women’s Shelter of Hope for their work with tenants, along with community members who have stepped forward and brought meals.
“We’re almost desperate right now,” McDowell said. “But as I said earlier, we still have time.”
Landlords and others with a rental or a room can call DRRSB at (807) 274-5349.
