Low-income Sudburians evicted from downtown building

Old Salvation Army building sold The old Salvation Army building, currently housing a temporary shelter and geared to income units, has been sold. Ian Campbell reports.

SUDBURY -- Residents of the old Salvation Army building in Sudbury will soon have to find a new place to live.

After moving into newly-renovated low-income units at 146 Larch Street in September, many say they were surprised to find an eviction notice this month telling them had to be out by November 25^th.

“I was instantly angry,” said one tenant who CTV News has agreed to identify as ‘Ryan.’ “What to do, it took me long enough to find this place and it’s cheap enough.”

‘Ryan’ said he returned home last week to find out the building had been sold and saw an eviction notice on the bulletin board. Now, he and others are scrambling to find new accommodations in less than 30 days.

“It’s going to lead to 30 people being homeless and the other shelter down the road doesn’t have enough beds for that so what’s going on is they sold the building over what they think people are doing here,” he said.

He and others were worried about retribution from their landlord. They feared if they got caught speaking with the media, they would immediately be out on the street. There was another individual who echoed 'Ryan's' comments but declined to do an on-camera.

The owner, Sudbury Apartment Rentals Limited, had renovated the units at the end of August citing low-income earners were welcome.

It was around the same time they had allowed the Canadian Mental Health Agency to open up an interim shelter until the new men’s space could open up at 200 Larch Street.

New owners will be taking over on November 30 and it's unclear what will happen to the old property.

CTV News reached out to Sudbury Apartment Rentals Limited’s owner, but with no success. The Canadian Mental Health Agency couldn’t comment and the city didn’t have anyone available until Monday.

Pastor Bradley Hale of the Elgin Street Mission was shocked to hear they were closing the building and evicting the residents.

“I heard from some of the people living there that they got their notice, I said ‘what do you mean you got your notice, you just moved in, they said ya they’re going to kick us all out, they’re going to demolish the building and they’re making a parking lot,” said Hale.

Staff at the time were busy at the mission getting the building ready to open up for the evening as a warming station.

Hale says affordable housing in the city seems to be getting progressively worse.

“Every time I see people, they’re like I need a place to stay, I’m always saying you need a place, you can’t be sleeping on my floors, you need a place and there’s nothing, that’s all I hear. There’s nothing,” he said.

“I’ve never seen it this bad before, last year we had maybe four or five different people that were chronically homeless, looking for something and hanging out here that I know of, I mean there’s a lot more for sure,” said Hale. “The regular ones I deal with now, it’s every time I turn around and guys are coming in with shopping carts.”

City officials did release the following statement:

“The City of Greater Sudbury has a Housing and Homelessness Plan to identify priorities that support people across the housing continuum, from people experiencing homelessness to people purchasing their own homes. The Housing First objective of the Housing and Homelessness Plan is to support the most vulnerable individuals in our community to get and stay housed.”

“A network of community partners work together to provide supports and services that address the unique circumstances of persons who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.”