City to evacuate residents living in heatless downtown apartment, opens emergency shelter

The City of Windsor is opening an emergency shelter for residents living in an Ouellette Avenue apartment building who are unable to find alternate accommodations.

The co-owner of 1616 Ouellette Avenue tells CTV News the city informed him residents of the heatless apartment building may be evacuated.

“The city wants to evacuate the property if we can’t get the boiler running,” said property co-owner Dr. Verinder Malhotra.

He says the price quote he received for a boiler replacement was $600,000.

“The electrical system needs to be upgraded as well. Everybody else is saying that we need to replace the boiler and it's going to take some time, maybe two to three months.”

1616 Ouellette Avenue has not had working heat for the fall season, despite a city by-law that requires landlords to provide heat by Sept. 15.Pictures taken inside 1616 Ouellette Avenue in Windsor, Ont. showcase the deteriorating conditions of the apartment building which has been without heat for months. (Sijia Liu/CTV News Windsor)

“I feel for them, but problem is my hands are tied. I want to get them as quickly as possible. We are trying our best,” said Malhotra.

Malhotra says he purchased the apartment “as is” earlier this fall.

“We regret buying it.”

Evacuation process and emergency shelter plans

Building officials have ordered the building at 1616 Ouellette Ave. to be evacuated until electricity can be restored, stabilized and inspected, and safety measures can in turn be activated.

The city says the building has been without centralized heat for some time due to a boiler failure, and electrical power has been unstable.

“Electrical and heating contractors will be on site to determine how long it will take to fix the issues, which will help determine how long residents may be out,” states a city news release on Tuesday.

City staff and the Canadian Red Cross will provide emergency shelter at the John Atkinson Memorial Community Centre. Programming at the community centre has been cancelled, and program users have been notified.

Donna Girard, emergency management m coordinator for Canadian Red Cross says the measure is temporary to keep the residents warm while waiting for a more permanent solution to become available.

“They will have three nice warm meals a day,” she said.

Girard also notes pets living in the building have also been evacuated and are being taken care of.

“The Humane Society is taking care of the pets on behalf of the Red Cross and the City of Windsor. We will hope that they can be reunited before too long.” 

The Ouellette Avenue building is a privately owned building with 120 residential rental units. City officials say the building’s owners have been notified of the orders and say they are committed to having the issues fixed as quickly as possible.

The city says it will continue to monitor the situation and support the residents’ needs.

On Monday, the city deployed two Transit Windsor busses to provide tenants with food and temporary shelter.