Nine downtown Kitchener residents are starting over following a fire that gutted the six-unit building they lived in at 87 Benton Street.
Patrick O’ Halloran, Kitchener Fire Department assistant platoon chief, placed the estimated damage at around $4 million.
“The apartment was fully involved with heavy smoke and flames visible. On arrival, crews had to access the building using a fire escape on the second floor,” said O’ Halloran.
Family, friends and the community rallied behind those impacted by the Saturday night fire, offering lodgings and setting up crowd-funded monetary relief.
Among those helping is The Canadian Red Cross, which says they are currently supporting three residents by providing emergency lodging, food, personal services and psycho-social support. They add the others are likely being supported by friends and family.
Allison Waite is one of the building residents currently being supported by the Canadian Red Cross.
She and her two children were not in the apartment when the fire engulfed the building. They arrived back to see the charred remains of the place she has called home for 15 years.
“I can make peace with that, it’s harder for my kids cause kids have more attachment to things. I just want a safe place for them,” said Waite.
As for help, Waite said she was put up in a hotel for three nights and supplied a prepaid Mastercard to help out with food and clothing.
Her kids are staying with friends and family until she can find a more permanent living situation.
RENTAL MARKET CRUNCH A BARRIER
Connor Simpson, one of the building's residents, says he's staying with his dad in Kitchener temporarily after the weekend fire left him without a place to live.
He says he's looking for a new place to live, but affording a spot in the area is going to be tough.
“A lot of things are annoyingly out of my survivable price range,” said Simpson. “Cause I don’t want to micro-budget my life, and here I was able to do what I want and have some savings each month.”
The Rentals.ca report for June shows Kitchener is the 11th most expensive city in Canada for renters with an average one-bedroom apartment going to $1,839 per month.
The report indicates Kitchener rental prices rose 8.1 per cent from May to June this year and jumped 22.4 per cent compared to June of 2021.
The price for a two-bedroom unit has jumped to $2,179 representing a 23.7 per cent increase year-over-year.
For some residents, such as Waite, entering into the rental market after being in the same unit for 15 years is proving to be an expensive endeavour.
Waite said the Barton Street apartment cost her about $900 a month, and every listing she has come across for downtown Kitchener has been two or three times that.
“We need to be together that’s the most important thing,” said Waite, referring to her children. “So that’s what I’m trying to figure out right now.”
The Barton Street building landlord, Barbara Bitzer, said she tried to keep the rents cheaper for tenants as a means to maintain the community there, knowing affordable housing is hard to come by.
“The rent is way below market value, they have been for a long time,” said Bitzer. “The tenants have been here a long time.”
Despite Waterloo region posting a fourth straight monthly drop in the price of houses, the average price to buy in the region is hovering around the seven-figure mark.
Simpson’s coworkers at THEMUSEUM in Kitchener have started up a Go Fund Me page to help.
There is also a second Go Fund Me page for all nine residents in hopes to get them back on their feet.
On Monday morning, the Go Fund Me for the nine residents had reached just over $4,000 of a $100,000 goal.
