Former resident at 1616 Ouellette gets new home, thankful for community support

It’s been a long month for displaced residents of 1616 Ouellette Avenue in Windsor, Ont.

The four-storey apartment building was evacuated on Nov. 22 by the city after the boiler failed and the building’s power, heat and life safety systems were not up to the city’s standards for occupancy.

But on Friday, the city’s order was lifted and some 50 residents were welcomed back into the building.

“There is a lot of work to be done at the property to bring it to the standard that I think the city, the community, the owners and tenants would like to see,” said Marla Coffin, the owner of Marda Management, which was brought on for crisis management. “We’ve at least been able to bring the property to a state that is safe for occupancy.”

Others who moved on from the apartment are ready for new beginnings.

“Other than having my children and my grandchildren, this is the best day of my life. This is an unbelievable,” said Peter Werner, who has spoken with CTV News Windsor many times since the evacuation and first alerted media to the problems in the building.

Residents being evacuated at 1616 Ouellette Ave apartment building in Windsor, Ont. on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. (Sijia Liu/CTV News Windsor)

He decided to move on from 1616 Ouellette Avenue.

A few weeks ago, he was put on a short-list as a priority candidate for affordable housing. This past Monday, Werner got a call for a new place. The 64-year-old walked through it this week, signed the lease and on Saturday, he moved in.

“It is it is a true Christmas miracle,” Werner said. “Like wow, like it's an actual miracle.”

Werner is thankful for the actions of many, including his family which took him in. He’s also expressing gratitude to Windsor’s housing team for finding him a new place to live so quickly and the generous community, which has fully furnished his new apartment with donations.

“Like you see stuff like this in the movie,” Werner said through tears. “I just broke down. I couldn’t hold the tears back anymore.”

He admits he still loses sleep at night worrying about his former neighbours but is happy they can at least move back into their homes.

There’s months of work still to go at 1616 Ouellette Avenue, including the installation of 400 new windows.

But Werner isn’t looking back.

“I want everybody to know you're looking for a place don't give up like a lot of people just give up. Don't give up just keep looking and everything. It will happen to you,” he said.

“I just want to tell everybody, thank you so very, very much,” he added. “This is unreal.”