A Moncton rooming house that was deemed unsafe was torn down on Tuesday.
The building was once distinctive, but for all the wrong reasons. The apartment was boarded up by the city more than a month ago before it was demolished.
The city established a task force three years ago after man living in a vacant building died in a fire. Since then, roughly 25 buildings have been torn down.
“Unfortunately, sometimes buildings like this one have been left for too long without repair,” says Moncton Fire Department Division Chief Charles LeBlanc. “It gets to a situation where it would be too costly for the owner to bring it back up to an acceptable standard.”
Several rooming homes were shut down during a one week period in April, and officials say as many as 10 buildings a day are being investigated.
People who frequent the neighbourhood weren’t surprised by the demolition. They say it was only a matter of time before the building collapsed on its own.
“The roof is very flimsy, I was kind of nervous about that with the chimney,” says demolition supervisor Gary Myers. “It was just like a paper roof.”
Lyle and Annette Hogan, who ownthe building and three other properties in the downtown area, say they are sorry to see it go.
“I’m legally blind, and maybe I can’t see things like other people see about the building, but they should have given me more time to fix it up,” says Mr. Hogan.
Because the building was not fixed in time, the Hogan’s will have to pay the bill for the demolition. The cost is still unknown, however, they hope to turn the land into a parking lot for their neighbouring business.
“For every one of these buildings that come down, there are probably several hundred buildings we bring up to an acceptable standard,” says Chief Leblanc. “Because of the fixing, they are now safe for people to live in.”
Tuesday’s demolition also puts more pressure on an already fragile low-income housing situation, something advocates say is only getting worse.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Cami Kepke.
