Displaced tenants prepare to live in tents as emergency shelter closes

Andre Suretteis 77 years oldand has COPD, but he's preparing to live in a tent for an undetermined amount of time while he waits for renovations to his building to be completed.

Suretteis one of almost 50 tenants displaced after the Fire Marshal'sOffice deemed the building where they resided to be unsafe.

He's spent the past few weeks sleeping on a cot at the temporary shelter set up inJames M. Hill Memorial High School with about a dozen other tenants who were unable to find other accommodations.

Surette was told last week the shelter will closeat 2 p.m. Monday, but he still hasn't been able to find a place to go.

"I tried a few different places. They're all taken or something else came up so I said the heck with it. So I decided I was going to go in the tent and that was it," he said.

Surette plans to stick it out until the building reopens, but he's unsure how long that may take.

New upgrades required

Landlord Brian Grosseth said there have been delays as the fire departmentrequested more upgrades on Friday.

"They've decided to now have me replace all of the doors in the building," Grosseth said.

That's about 33 doors at a cost of $30,000. While Grosseth is able to get some from Moncton, the fireproof wooden doors from Quebec the department requested are backordered by eight weeks.

"This is the worst news that I could ever have asked for," he said.

The new timeline will push the completion date to September, when Grossethsaid most people aren't moving any more. He said it's possible his building could be mostly empty all winter.

Despite the delay, Grosseth saidhe expects part of the building to be opened up in a matter of days if all goes well. That would include the wing where Surette lives.

'As long as it takes'

Still, Surette's daughter, Heidi, who lives outside Calgary, is worried about her father sleeping outdoors givenhis age and health issues.

"I've been trying to ... help him the best I can but he's also stubborn," she said.

"It's horrible being this far away from your family and not being able to do anything for them."

Heidi said her father has been retired for some time and is on a fixed income.

Despite the delays, Surette is planning to stick it out in the tent "for as long as it takes."

He said Grosseth has been doing the best he can.

Grosseth appreciates his tenants' loyalty and has been trying to bring in trailers to provide better accommodationsfor them but has been told insurance doesn't cover it.

"They have no washing facilities back there, they have no cooking facilities back there."

As soon as part of the building is open, Grossethis going to give his camping tenants free lodging in unoccupied units until the rest of the wings are opened.

He said that lost income plus theupgrades are going to "costa fortune," but he won't be raising rents.

"I know that the people that are renting are on limited income," he said. "My purpose in life is to help not to get rich on it."