Residents of the Airport Inn outside Fredericton are moving on and moving out, but one longtime resident says she wants the landlord to face repercussions for how the situation unfolded.
Heather Lantz has been busy packing up seven years’ worth of belongings until she moves to a new space next week.
“Feels amazing. Amazing. Like I’ll be living in a castle now,” she said.
Her sudden eviction from the Airport Inn in Lincoln, N.B., has left its mark.
“That’ll never leave any of us … because you don’t treat humans like that,” she said.
Last month, residents of the Airport Inn woke up to find their water and electricity had been shut off. The next day, their landlord — Yingchun Su — handed out letters saying they had to leave as soon as possible.
According to New Brunswick’s Public Safety Department, “significant safety issues” were identified in the building.
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When proper correction actions weren’t taken by deadline, the power was disconnected due to safety risks posed by what the department called “a number of significant electrical issues.”
Su told Global News on June 19 that seven days before the power went out, an electrical inspector told her a flood was causing safety issues and they needed to be fixed in the next week.
“I really feel helpless. I don’t know what to do,” Su said at the time.
The situation left about two dozen residents scrambling to find new affordable units. Many of the residents were long-term tenants who had lived there for years.
Currently, there is still no running water or electricity in the building, and the few remaining tenants either have not found new homes or are still waiting to move into their next place.
“Everything she did was hidden to us all,” Lantz said. “This should have been fixed long, long time ago when she had the funds for it.”
Lantz says she’s exploring her legal options, and says a contractor told her he’s been hired to demolish the building once everyone has left.
Su declined an interview Friday, but wrote in an email that she is “still not sure about the future of the building yet.” She added that she “just wants to put all (this) behind and focus on the work (that) needs to be done.”
But that’s not enough for Lantz, who is worried that the building will be torn down before potential wrongdoing has been investigated.
In a statement, the province’s Department of Social Development said it has been working with the New Brunswick Housing Corporation to support the tenants in finding new homes.
The department had also arranged for the Canadian Red Cross to make water and potable toilets available to residents.
“Those resources are still on site at this time, and the services of a security company were obtained in order to ensure people’s property remained safe and secure,” the statement added.
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