Fiona repairs in Cape Breton slowed by homeowners with no place to go

The Mennonite Disaster Service has been fixing up buildings in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality that were wrecked by last September's post-tropical storm Fiona, but their work has hit a snag. 

The charitable group says the work could be finished twice as quickly if homeowners living in the damaged buildings had another place to go.

"We're doing half a house at a time," said Roman Heuft, response co-ordinator for the service. "That's like building a building with one hand tied behind your back. It's inefficient."

Heuft said fixing homes in stages means they can't fix as many homes. The group estimates it could repair 40 homes before moving onto other projects in the fall.

"We'll get as many clients into that timeline as we can," said Heuft.

"It would be more workable for us to have these people out of the home while we were renovating it. It's not the most comfortable thing to be in a house when it is being renovated around you. It's just not good for people."

Joseph Spencer remembers waking up to Fiona's fury and discovering the storm destroyed parts of his duplex.

Spencer said no insurance was available to him at an affordable price because he lives in an old Cape Breton company house near the ocean.

"My roof was over in the field and my chimney was in the front yard," said the Glace Bay senior, who has lived in the same house for more than 30 years. 

The Mennonite group offered to fix Spencer's roof for free, but he was unable to find a rental that was close to his wife's work.

Spencer said the family ended up staying in their home for roughly two weeks with tarps and space heaters keeping them somewhat warm and dry.

"You weren't getting as much rain in," Spencer said. "It was uncomfortable, but we stuck it out."

Because of the broken roof, the family needs work to fix water damage inside the home. Spencer said that will likely mean using the couple's savings to stay in an RV in their yard while the work is underway.

Lynne McCarron, executive director of United Way Cape Breton, said the provincial government was offering money for people who needed temporary shelter in the months following the storm. But that money is no longer available. 

McCarron said because of an ongoing housing crisis, there are few places for people to live, unless they can afford hotel rooms. After hearing stories from people in need, McCarron approached the federal and provincial governments looking for solutions, but nothing has materialized.

Many homes needed work before Fiona

She said one of the things noticed in Fiona's aftermath was the number of Cape Breton homes that were in need of repairs before the storm hit.

McCarron has since approached Nova Scotia EMO and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality to develop a committee that would help people be better prepared for the next disaster. 

She said her vision for the committee is to have someone available to help people to find grants to maintain their homes before they are impacted by another Fiona. 

"We absolutely need a resiliency plan," McCarron said. "For the next disaster, which is probably inevitable, [we need] to be better prepared."