Months after fire at Sask. seniors housing complex, displaced residents still waiting for word on rebuild

Displaced residents of a social housing building for low income seniors in Carievale, Sask., that was heavily damaged by a fire in January want reassurances it will be rebuilt.

Carievale is a village of approximately 240 people, located about 260 kilometres southeast of Regina in the province's southeastern corner.

No one was injured in the Jan. 11 fire at the Carie-Villa, which is for seniors who can still live independently, but a responding fire department described the aftermath as a "huge loss." 

The common area and most of the building's living units were among the areas that received the most damage.

In a letter shared with media outlets, residents asked the provincial government, the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation and the Ministry of Social Services to provide a timeline for their return home.

The letter said the villa board and the Village of Carievale had made multiple attempts to get an update from the housing corporation about the status of the building, but they hadn't received any timelines.

One of the residents, Wylie Dixon, has been staying in a part of the facility that survived the fire after his original unit was damaged.

Dixon said he lost half of his belongings in the fire, including some photos and prized end tables that had belonged to his late wife.

He is related to some of the residents who have been forced to find other homes.

"It's pretty hard on some of these women," he said. "I've got a friend, she's living with her daughter. She's still hurting bad.

"And everybody's wanting to get this thing put together and going, and nobody's doing nothing. I can't understand it."

Dixon is longing for the restoration of the common room that hosted suppers and saw kids from a local church come and sing around Christmas.

"It was really wonderful for those older people," he said. "I'd hate to see it have to go down."

The board of the Carievale Housing Authority also wrote a letter to government, saying "it feels that we have been left in the dark" about the fate of the seniors housing building.