SUDDENLY HOMELESS WITH BARELY ANY SUPPORT
On the night of Aug. 3, my house caught fire. It was a row house with nine units, housing around 60 to 70 students, and was owned by Smart Living Properties. A Smart Living representative showed up, after a tenant had called them to let them know one of their properties was on fire, and we were told to meet at the corner of Friel and Daly.
The only words that came out of his mouth were “do you have somewhere to stay tonight? A family or friend’s place? Oh and call your insurance to alert them that an incident has occurred.”
I’m sorry, is that it? Is that all you have to say to dozens of tenants — young adults that don’t have family in Ottawa — who have just experienced a traumatic event leaving us homeless at 1am? Thankfully many of us had friends to stay with, but others had to wait on a bus for temporary housing.
The Canadian Red Cross – Emergency Management department stepped in to help with temporary housing for those who needed it but only for six nights. Then it was up to Smart Living to find us somewhere else to live. And that was going to be a challenge.
They had told us on Thursday night that the following morning, we were able to go in and grab some of our essentials from our rooms. But with such short notice, many of us weren’t able to grab a lot. I didn’t even have proper shoes or clothing to wear, nor did I have my glasses with me. A few friends of mine came and carried my stuff to their place, and another roommate of mine ordered a same day car rental – which was very expensive.
In regards to finding a place to live for the school year, well that was tricky seeming as it was less than a month until school started. Smart Living said they gave us “priority assistance” to find other housing but that was only when my roommates and I borderline harassed them to help us.
Dozens of emails, phone calls, and showing up at their office unannounced is what it took for them to actually help us — and even then it was the bare minimum. They obviously wanted to keep us from going with another company but once an incident such as a fire occurs, the lease is broken and they have no obligation towards us.
On Aug. 9, we managed to view two houses that they were showing to everyone displaced by the fire. One was a basement unit with pipes in a bedroom closet, and the other had the second bathroom in one of the bedrooms (which, let’s be honest, was just a small finished basement). Not good options to say the least. They both went for around $900 and I dared to ask if they were willing to lower the price, as this was above what we paid for at our other house and none of us had planned for this extra cost.
Their response was “no because we don’t control the rent, we are just a leasing agency”. Oh really? I beg to differ. We obviously didn’t go with those houses and everything else kept falling through, so we went our separate ways to find places to live. I thankfully found a house with one of my roommates and moved in on Aug. 26. 25 days of being homeless; sleeping on couches, not having a fridge, and clothes in garbage bags.
On Aug. 30, I received a Docusign email with an agreement to end the tenancy document. After I completed this, I received a refund of my August rent and deposit on Sept. 7. It baffled me that it took over a month for me to receive my deposit back, since many of us needed that money to put a deposit on somewhere else to live. Not to mention, my August rent refund was only $725 instead of $775 because I had lived there for three days in August. I laughed with shock but not surprise when I saw that on my bank statement.
It’s difficult in Sandy Hill and the surrounding areas to live somewhere that isn’t owned by a housing corporation. But just know, they aren’t your friend and they won’t be in times of need. They will protect themselves to the fullest extent. Oh and also please, I don’t know how many times I said this in the month of August, get tenants’ insurance because you never know.
