Tenants given orders ‘they’re incapable of complying with’ after Housing NB buys rooming house

When residents of a rooming house in downtown Moncton learned their building was up for sale, they worried that a private developer might evict the dozens of low-income tenants.

Now, the provincial government has purchased the Sunset Hotel at 162 Queen Street, and a local charity has been tasked with managing it. But questions remain about how current tenants will be able to comply with orders from the local fire marshal, and whether they will have any say in the building’s operation. 

One of those tenants, Robert MacKay — an anti-poverty activist who volunteers with the NB Media Co-op — has already been locked out of his room. He says several other residents have either lost their rooms or are at imminent risk of homelessness.

Last Friday, the City of Moncton fire marshal found that MacKay’s room posed a fire hazard because of stacks of documents that he stores there, and told him the room would be locked as a safety measure. 

MacKay acknowledged that his room was out of compliance, but argued that he needs access to his living quarters and documents to provide peer-support services to other residents. 

Tenants are being given orders “that they’re incapable of complying with,” MacKay said. “This whole arrangement was all cooked up ahead of time without their input, without their active engagement, without them co-creating what the new Sunset Hotel was going to be.”

He showed the fire marshal and other officials a document from the Department of Social Development stating that “the presence of Robert MacKay as community peer helper is actually the only support [the tenant] is accepting.” 

Another resident told the NB Media Co-op that MacKay is known for going out of his way to provide tenants with support. “If we had a problem, he was there,” said Rita Bourgeois, who said she’s lived at the Sunset for about a year. 

Barred from room 

The situation became tense and the fire marshal eventually called the police. 

Several RCMP officers remained at the scene until MacKay agreed to comply with the fire marshal by leaving his room, at least for the weekend, on the condition that his belongings would be kept securely on-site for the time being.

A crew of workers wearing hazmat suits, ventilators, and goggles cleaned the building as the dispute unfolded. Plumbers were also on scene fixing a leak in the ceiling.

MacKay hasn’t been able to return to his room since then, and on some nights has been sleeping in the building’s lobby on a makeshift bed, although he said some units are empty.

He described the situation as “akin to torture” and has stated that he’s “on the verge of a nervous breakdown.” 

At the Sunset Hotel, tenants generally pay about $480 per month for a room, according to MacKay. He pays a lower rent, he said, because he helped the former operator to manage the building, often dealing with crisis situations. 

A letter to residents dated June 21 states that Harvest House Atlantic will provide property management services. The Christian faith-based charity runs a nearby shelter and various other services.

A manager from Harvest House declined to comment about the situation, saying all questions should go to the provincial government.

For its part, the province hasn’t publicly acknowledged its new ownership of the rooming house, even as the Higgs government struggles to show progress on New Brunswick’s housing crisis ahead of the upcoming election.

At the time of publication, the province hasn’t made anyone available for an interview or provided any comment about the Sunset Hotel. 

Tenants’ rights activist Vanessa Jones said she believes MacKay is being targetted by the new management for being outspoken about the rights of residents. 

“I’ve seen it over and over,” said Jones, a member of NB ACORN. “The landlord singles out the person that stands up for the tenants.”

Building purchased for $950K 

Housing NB quietly purchased the building at 162 Queen Street on June 24 for $950,000, well above this year’s assessed value of $675,000, according to provincial property records.

The sale followed behind-the-scenes efforts to keep the building out of the hands of developers who might evict the tenants and demolish the building.

In April, MacKay circulated a hand-written petition that said: “We want all levels of government helping to provide a proactive safety net for those at risk of losing their housing, including in private and publicly operated rooming houses. Zero ‘new’ homeless in our communities!”

When the NB Media Co-op learned about the impending sale in May, a government spokesperson provided a brief statement by email. 

Housing NB “continues to look at ways to expand and preserve the province’s affordable housing units, as well as ways to expedite the addition of public housing through new builds and the purchase of existing units,” the spokesperson said. 

Rooming houses are one of the few affordable housing options for people living on New Brunswick’s low social assistance rates. 

Many rooming houses have been demolished in recent years, as authorities have deemed them unsafe. Meanwhile, heavy investment in New Brunswick’s real estate market has resulted in rising prices, meaning fewer options available for people on the low end of the market.

The province lost more than 8,600 rental units costing less than $750 per month between 2016 and 2021, according to data from Statistics Canada.

Peer-support network

MacKay has campaigned over the years for the establishment of a peer support network in the mental health care system that he believes would help lift people out of poverty. He has described the collection of documents in his room, stacked in boxes on shelves against the wall, as his life’s work.

Earlier this year, he outlined his ideas in an interview with the NB Media Co-op, conducted as part of a series of workshops with the NB Common Front for Social Justice. 

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Stations and Users (CACTUS).