Province offers support to Langford residents who had to vacate troubled highrise

The City of Langford says the B.C. government has offered to help residents who have been ordered out of their homes at RidgeView Place, after the city revoked the building's occupancy permit due to safety concerns.

On Thursday, Langford Mayor Scott Goodmanson said the province agreed to provide temporary housing, food and transportation for the roughly 200 residents who were affected by the sudden order.

"I want to thank [Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Bowin] Ma and [Minister of Housing Ravi] Kahlon for working so closely with us to help us with people who have been impacted with this issue," he said.

Affected residents can apply for the provincial support through the B.C. Emergency Support Services (ESS) program online or at an ESS reception centre now set up at 877 Goldstream Ave.

The ESS centre is open Thursday to Saturday.

Volunteers and city staff will also be at the reception centre to help residents find hotels.

"No matter the emergency, being evacuated can be stressful and our government is here to support communities in times of crisis," said Ma in a statement.

"We're providing temporary supports to RidgeView Place residents, including lodging for five days, as well as funding for a community navigator to help people secure the supports and resources available to them," she said.

Building owner Centurion originally gave residents $1,000 as a gesture of goodwill, and provided moving trucks on Monday and Tuesday.

On Thursday, the company said it would be giving residents another $1,500 and is offering rent refunds for damage and pet deposits, as well as rent from April 24 to April 30.

Moving trucks will also be available through the week, though Centurion did not provide an exact timeline.

Centurion is also expanding the number of staff and working hours for its customer care centre as well as staff on site.

SECOND EVACUATION

Monday marked the second time that the city revoked the building's occupancy permit within the past four years.

In 2019, tenants were ordered to leave the building, which was formerly called Danbrook One.

This week, nearby hotels were booked to capacity as roughly 200 residents of the building were ordered to leave their homes.

Some have decided to stay in the building, while others are moving in with friends and family as investigations into the safety issues, as well as how this could have happened a second time, are underway. 

With some residents still living in the building, Goodmanson says he urges people to heed the safety advice.

"My message is, we have to trust, if an engineer says vacate a building, vacate the building," he said.

"I did not want to say on Monday that we want you to leave as soon as possible, but I did so because that was the recommendation of experts. No one says that lightly," he said.

The mayor says there's no information yet on when the building may reopen, since there's no available timeline on when a thorough investigation of the building will be complete.

"Whether it is a one month or one year repair, we have no information on that, and that's part of the [Engineers and Geoscientists BC] investigation."

He says that investigation will also provide more details on what exactly the safety concerns with the building are.