KENORA — A planned downtown revitalization project involving the seizure of the historic Kenricia Hotel building will further challenge a community already grappling with a housing shortage.
That’s according to Marlene Elder of Kenora Moving Forward — a coalition of residents who work or volunteer with people experiencing homelessness and other issues. Elder said, as far as she’s aware, there could be as many as 35 people living in spaces in the building. And while she said the accommodations aren’t ideal — calling the building “extremely run down” — there won’t be anywhere else for them to go.
“There are people that … aren't going to be easy to be placed somewhere else because there isn't a lot (of available housing),” Elder said. “So even though the city stated ‘we're going to work with our community partners to put them somewhere else,’ it’s really just shuffling a deck, or maybe musical chairs is a better analogy.”
“Somebody gets left out, so I don't know how that's going to work.”
Top city officials have said they are aware of both commercial and residential tenants in the building — which is privately owned — and they committed to minimizing disruptions and addressing people’s needs while they go through the process of seizing the property.
Elder said she immediately and briefly had high hopes for the project.
“For about 30 seconds, I thought, ‘yay, the people that are living there will have some place that's safe to live, that's been renovated,’ and then, of course, it kicked in: they're not going to be housing people,” Elder said of the rehabilitation project.
“They're going to be revitalizing the downtown and — whatever that means — it's not housing for the individuals that are living there.”
“The city will be actively engaging with the community partners to explore housing solutions for tenants and individuals affected by this process, ensuring their needs are thoughtfully addressed,” said a press release issued by Kenora city hall after council voted to start the expropriation process.
A frequently-asked-questions section of the city’s website said municipal officials will be working with the Kenora District Services Board.
Newswatch has requested comment from the KDSB.
Kenora, like many other municipalities, has a long waitlist for affordable housing. And while some projects, like a 20-unit affordable housing build and a 56-unit seniors complex have been completed, the city also has commissioned a third party to develop a housing analysis study that leaders hope to use to better press the case for funding from senior levels of government.
“There is a huge waiting list for housing, so you're just adding to that list,” Elder said. “The bottom line is there's not enough places for people — people are tenting still, so what is that going to look like?”
She said, while the Kenricia project is great from the perspective of protecting heritage buildings, she’s concerned it’s more about recapturing a prior heyday and not serving vulnerable populations now.
“There are people that are living on the streets and they're not going to go away unless there's somewhere they can be,” Elder said.
“I'm just hoping … more people will realize that, I guess.”
