The non-profit group that runs a Coquitlam housing complex that is leaking raw sewage says a fix is coming now that further funding has been granted.
The leak has been present at a townhouse complex at 99 Laval St. for a few months and residents are concerned about health risks.
The property known as Place Des Amis is run by the Red Door Housing Society, a non-profit group that provides affordable housing in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.
Representative Susan Snell said the group has been working with plumbers to fix pipes and other issues all along, and one of them informed her the whole system needed replacing.
"That's when I started the process of sending it to BC Housing for funding, because we don't have the money," Snell said.
She said the funding has recently been granted, and the society is working to move residents from 16 affected units into hotels or other available units.
"We will start the moment I can get everyone out because they can't be in there when the repairs are being done," Snell said.
One of the affected residents said she hopes to move her family out as soon as possible.
"My daughter's sick, I'm sick," said Leanne Kerwoods, who lives in one of the affected homes.
She showed CTV News that every time someone flushes the toilet, the water and waste pours out a pipe into her crawlspace.
Kerwoods is not the only one experiencing the problem. Over the past two days, several of her neighbours told CTV about a bad smell, toilet backups and feeling unwell.
"We're short of breath. We have headaches almost every day," said Kirstin Chambers.
Residents say they’ve had issues before, but that this is the worst.
“This is where we draw the line,” Sara Sarvari said.
Sarvari says sewage backed up through her family’s toilet and bathtub in August, destroying their main floor.
The organization offered alternative accommodation to some, but families say the few housing options Red Door has put forward would tear them away from their community just as school gets underway. Red Door is also offering a $750 moving allowance, which residents also say isn’t enough.
"(A) $750 moving allowance for a four-bedroom family of possibly five or six? Really?" said resident Bonnie Bowen.
"We have a community in crisis, a community in fear, a community crying out for help and needing answers immediately."
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart says the city is looking at ways it can help the residents.
“I wanted to make sure that we’re doing all we can as a city to evaluate what’s going on here,” Stewart said while visiting the complex Monday.
The mayor, who is a former building inspector, said it appears the soil in the crawl spaces below the units has settled, causing the sewage lines to separate.
“It isn’t a safe situation for the residents of this complex,” Steward told CTV News.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Breanna Karstens-Smith and Maria Weisgarber
