About 30 people displaced by North York fire to be moved from emergency shelter to hotel

It’s moving day for 30 people who have been staying at an emergency shelter since a massive fire at their North York apartment building two weeks ago.

A total of 700 people were displaced by the Nov. 15 fire at 235 Gosford Boulevard, though most of them were able to find alternative accommodations.

The remaining 30 or so residents have been staying in an emergency shelter at York University’s Tait McKenzie Centre but that facility is expected to close at the end of the day.

Prior to its closure, the displaced residents will be relocated to a nearby hotel where they will be able to stay until their building is fit for occupancy again.

The Canadian Red Cross will be coordinating efforts to relocate the residents.

According to city spokesperson Brad Ross, the residents will continue to pay rent while they are displaced and any premium associated with the cost of providing hotel accommodations will be made up by the landlord.

The timeline for re-occupancy of the building remains unknown, though Mayor John Tory has said that it is likely to be “months rather than days or weeks.”

“A couple floors in the building were badly damaged by the fire itself but what people don’t know is that the fire actually spread up one side of the building from the seventh and eighth floor where it started up to the 16th floor so there are structural concerns with the building and we have to have people go in and make sure that the building wasn’t damaged in such a way that it is dangerous,” he said earlier this week.