Charlottetown seniors still dealing with leaky roof six weeks after Fiona
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Marvin Lund believes six years is a protracted sufficient anticipate a repair to a leaky roof.
Since post-tropical storm Fiona, the roof within the frequent room of 501 Queen St., a provincially-owned seniors housing advanced the place Lund lives, has been leaking down the brickwork, pooling all around the flooring on wet days.
The morning of Nov. 7 was a kind of days.
Talking to SaltWire Community, Lund mentioned restoration and cleansing employees commonly are available in to dry the ground every time it rains. They typically do a great cleanup job, he mentioned.
However Lund worries in regards to the long-term harm to the constructing if the roof isn’t fastened.
“Because the leaks develop, it expands extra. And now we received them operating down the hallways,” Lund mentioned. “The mould, wetness simply sucks up into it. It is all received to get replaced. And if it isn’t changed, we’ll have loads of sick individuals.”
It’s been 6 wks since #Fiona & Seniors are nonetheless being left behind. They’re precious members of our neighborhood & deserve higher remedy. There isn’t a good motive for @infoPEI to be delaying repairs to this blding. How about getting this fastened ASAP Min @matthewmackaypc? #peipoli pic.twitter.com/n9YXHoGTwO
— Official Opposition Caucus (Inexperienced Social gathering) (@peigreencaucus) November 7, 2022
The 501 Queen St. advanced was in-built 1975 and is house to about 100 seniors like Lund.
After Fiona, harm to the roof of the constructing was tarped and patched up. However the Division of Social Growth and Housing has mentioned wind and rain have prompted the deterioration of those efforts.
Lund says the roof on high of the frequent space has been leaking for years earlier than the storm.
“Each time we get a heavy rain, we flood out right here. I have been right here six years, and it hasn’t modified,” he mentioned.
‘Is that this even on the desk?’
Liberal MLA Gord McNeilly visited 501 Queen St. on Nov. 7 and tweeted photographs of the puddles of water on the frequent room flooring.
He says the leaky roof is an indication that repairs to publicly-owned housing like 501 Queen St. has not been prioritized by the Division of Social Growth and Housing.
“Is that this even on the desk? If colleges received their roofs fastened immediately, why did not 501 Queen have the identical respect given to those 100 residents?”
McNeilly mentioned the delays in fixing the roof have been “discouraging” for residents.
“The underlying challenge is that roof must be carried out and it must be in all probability one of many largest priorities for presidency proper now,” McNeilly mentioned.
“Because the leaks develop, it expands extra. And now we received them operating down the hallways. “The mould, wetness simply sucks up into it. It is all received to get replaced. And if it isn’t changed, we’ll have loads of sick individuals.” – Marvin Lund
Repairs to start
In an e-mail to SaltWire on Nov. 7, Rebecca Gass of the Division of Social Growth and Housing mentioned the roof at 501 Queen St. requires “instant restore.”
Frequent areas will want intensive repairs from the storm, together with alternative of drywall within the ceiling and partitions.
Gass additionally mentioned no particular person rooms of tenants have been impacted.
“These damages went by the insurance coverage course of and had been assessed by an insurance coverage adjuster. On account of delays in insurance coverage course of, the division has engaged a contractor and they are going to be on website as quickly as doable to start repairs,” Gass wrote.
Inexperienced MLA Karla Bernard mentioned a number of different publicly-owned seniors properties have been coping with defective roofs for years. Bernard mentioned the issue is the results of years of avoidance of long-term roof upkeep in publicly-owned housing.
“They will repair all the things else. They will repair the signs of the issue somewhat than fixing the precise drawback. As a result of it is costly,” Bernard mentioned.
Bernard added the province has a scarcity of upkeep employees working in its public housing division.
“I feel it is a lack of prioritization. And since it is a lack of a prioritization there aren’t the upkeep individuals there to do it and so now they’ve created a large drawback,” Bernard mentioned.
Over 1,100 seniors stay in publicly-owned housing throughout the province.
The province’s not too long ago tabled fall capital funds greater than tripled the funds for capital repairs for publicly-owned housing, from $1.1 million to $3.6 million.
However Bernard and McNeilly each mentioned the brand new cash will not be sufficient to deal with the wanted repairs after years of under-investment in housing upkeep.
“It’s shameful. And it’s all pre-Fiona. Yeah, positive, perhaps Fiona made it worse. However these roofs had been leaking earlier than. And we knew it,” Bernard mentioned.
Stu Neatby is a political reporter with the SaltWire Community in Prince Edward Island. He may be reached by e-mail at [email protected] and adopted on Twitter @stu_neatby.
