Province deems Alberton apartment building unsafe following fire | CBC News

Provincial officials have stepped in to deal with an apartment building in Alberton, P.E.I., that was damaged by fire a week ago.

The converted former motel, located on Church Street, has been declared dangerous and unsafe by the province, which has ordered the owner to either repair or demolish it.

One former resident told CBC he continued to stay at his apartment for a while after the fire even though there was no electricity or heat.

The fire displaced 10 residents. As of Thursday afternoon, no one was living there.

Lynne St Denis had plans to help her son move into the apartment building, but the fire happened before she could do that.

“Right now the housing market is desperate. People that are below the mid-range income, they have nowhere to go. So this was the last resort for a lot of people,” she said.

The building is owned by M Property Management Group, an out-of-province company. Before the province issued its dangerous premises order, the owners had emailed CBC to say they were working to repair the building.

“Our number one goal is to get most of the residents back into the building as soon as possible,” the email said.

CBC asked for comment after the order was issued but did not receive a response.

Alberton officials say the property has been a concern for several years and the town has issued cleanup orders in the past.

“We want to make sure that they’re not moving people back into a place that’s not livable. We’re concerned that the living quality may not be up to standards and we would hope that the manager would use this opportunity to rebuild and make it up to code,” Alberton CAO Donna Thomson said.

The order requires that the building be boarded up and Do Not Enter signs be placed on all doors. A report listing all of the building’s deficiencies has been passed on to the owners and immediate action is required, according to provincial officials.