It won’t be easy to find new housing accomodations for the residents who lost their homes when Kengard Manor went up in flames last Thursday.
There is little to no rental vacancies in Merritt, Royal LePage Merritt broker Claudette Edenoste told the Herald.
“We didn’t have much to begin with, so with the fire things just got worse,” she said.
As of this morning, Royal LePage had just two rental units available, which were being shown to five people, Edenoste said.
Once those are booked, there will be no rentals available in town, so Edenoste has drawn up a list of available units in neighbouring Logan Lake.
“We’re trying to offer that as a solution — a temporary apartment in Logan Lake that’s affordable,” she said.
The list is only about six or seven rentals long she said, noting that many people from Kamloops have been moving to Logan Lake for cheaper rent.
All the people who were living in Kengard Manor were renting, Edenoste told the Herald.
She said she’s hoping some investors come along and buy up available houses in town to place on the rental market.
“We certainly have a lot of houses for sale, and those would be amazing rentals,” Edenoste said. “It’s a good time to buy. If you’re an investor or want to be an investor, come on down, we’ve got deals for you.
“You can still find a house for $150,000 in Logan Lake,” she said. “Maybe there’s some candidates [who were displaced by the fire] that can purchase a house,” she said.
Edenoste also said the demand for rental units won’t be going down anytime soon in Merritt.
“We have a huge amount of people coming in for work here — by the hundreds,” she said noting the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion that’s set to begin in September.
She said the Merritt Royal LePage office has been quite busy since the fire occurred, noting they’ve been getting calls constantly regarding rentals.
“It’s been hectic and the girls are overworked and stressed,” Edenoste said. “We feel for the people who lost their homes, and we’d like to be able to help, and we can’t. It’s hard to turn people away.”
Royal Lepage is the only licensed property management company in town.
At the time of the fire, there were 35 apartment units housing 58 residents, according to the City of Merritt.
A press release from the municipality states that “currently, professionals are onsite determining chemical levels and the structural stability of the building.
Everyone was evacuated from the building when the fire broke out, and theMerritt’s Emergency Social Services (ESS) set up a reception area at the civic centre. Residents were then ushered up to the newly built Comfort Inn that night, but some have since had to be moved to other hotels due to overbooking, according to Merritt Mayor Neil Menard.
On Monday, the City of Merritt confirmed that the lodging and the food vouchers provided by the ESS team would be extended for two more weeks.
However, the displaced residents have been encouraged to find alternative living accommodations beyond that extension.
A representative from the Red Cross has been brought in to assist the displaced residents with finding new housing accommodations and ASK Wellness has agreed to take a lead role in this area.
Landlords wishing to discuss providing accommodations are asked to contact Stacey Wormell-Street with ASK Wellness at 250-315-3323.
Merritt Fire Rescue Chief Dave Tomkinson said the investigation into what caused the fire has been delayed due to a structural assessment of the building.
Evacuated residents at the scene told the Herald the fire began in the first-floor laundry room of the building, which does not have a sprinkler system. Tomkinson estimated the building to have been built sometime in the 1960s.
