The dozens of residents of Kensington Manor who have been displaced from their suites for the last week say the management company has provided them with little help following the snap decision to evacuate the building.
On November 24, an engineer detected serious structural issues within the building in the 300 block of 10 Street Northwest and a decision was made to evacuate all of the tenants.
“I got in at 6:15 on Thursday evening and I was met by officers and basically told I have 15 minutes to pack up my most important belongings and leave,” said Anannya Biswas. “I was severely inconvenienced on a work week and I had no place to go. Thankfully I had a car. Some people didn’t even have that in the building.”
Some of the 123 residents say they were left with no place to go and without many of their essential belongings that remain within their apartments. A number of the displaced have found temporary places to stay but are without a long term plan.
Biswas says she has lived in Kensington Manor since February of this year and it was her second stint in the 60-suite building. “I’ve had no issues so far with the building,” said Biswas. “I was aware that the building was an older structure but I really preferred the area.”
According to the tenants, the management company had offered them $250 and a 25 per cent refund of their rent for the month of November as a gesture of goodwill but the funds have yet to arrive.
“They’re giving us conflicting stories,” said Biswas. “The cheques are not ready which were claimed to be ready on Monday.”
“Everyone’s trying to get an answer on compensation and moving costs but we’re just getting a runaround,” said Micah Lukasewich. “Everybody’s freaked out, worried, upset (and) angry.”
The tenants are working with Renter’s Action Movement Alberta, a grassroots group that defends the interests of renters, and are considering pursuing legal action if the lack of progress continues. The Kensington Manor residents are scheduled to meet on Sunday to discuss how they should proceed.
“All I really, really care about right now is being properly compensated,” said Biswas. “Not only me but the other residents who were there in the building who were severely inconvenienced.”
Dennis Terhove, a supervisor with the City of Calgary’s safety response unit, says the process of shoring the building is ongoing and remains on schedule.
“We do expect that that two-week timeline initially given is still in place but we’ll have a better idea after the weekend,” explained Terhove. ““It’s just to make it safe enough for the tenants to go back into their suites, obtain their possessions and essentially move out.”
Terhove adds that once the shoring is complete, engineers will be able to further investigate the integrity of the structure. A decision on whether to remediate, demolish or rebuild will be made by the owner of the building which, according to city documentation, is a numbered company based in Ontario.
With files from CTV's Kamil Karamali
