Miramichi fire victims have until Saturday to find housing

Six people in Miramichi are facing homelessness if they can't find a new place to live by Saturday.

They were displaced after a fire in their low-income apartment building on Monday.

The other29 tenantshave been able to find other accommodations. The Red Cross is putting the remaining six up in a hotel for now, but the emergency service is only short-term.

Steve MacDonald is in a comfortable room at the Howard Johnson, but he knows that ends soon.

"So basically I'm going to pack my bags, and walk out the door, I have no idea," said MacDonald.

He's been looking for other apartments, but says money is tight at the best of times.

"I'm on Canada Pension, limited budget, I'm on disability, I have a fractured spine so limited budget," he explained. "I just paid my rent and my security deposit, which was 700 bucks and I only get $950 so, kind of hard to get a new place with only a hundred bucks in my pocket."

So far, he's found nothing that will work. "There's not really anything within my budget, that's why I was living in the building I was living in, it was geared towards lower income."

Group helping victims

Most of the fire victims staying at the hotel met with Jason Surette this afternoon, to talk about what happens next.

He runs Big Hearts Small City, a non-profit that helps fire victims in the area find housing.

"People that are going to be homeless tomorrow, those are the people that I'm going to help as soon as possible so they aren't standing on the street," said Surette.

Asking landlords to help

He's looking for building owners and property managers to offer the rest of this month for free, to gain a new tenant.

That's happened many times before in the province, said Surette.

"We're kind of new to Miramichi and most people don't know about this kind of thing that we do," he said.

"So hopefully we get some generous apartment owners that will hear about the situation, give us a call and work with these people to get them re-housed."

It's not known if or when the apartment building could reopen. The fire is still being investigated.