Two years after the June 2013 flood saw mountain creeks decimate homes in Canmore and Exshaw, the province has given notice to those living in temporary flood housing they have until the end of the month to move out.
Two years after the June 2013 flood saw mountain creeks decimate homes in Canmore and Exshaw, the province has given notice to those living in temporary flood housing they have until the end of the month to move out.
It is a particular hardship for those living in temporary flood housing two years out in the MD of Bighorn hamlet of Exshaw, as some homeowners are still trying to work through the disaster recovery program (DRP) to receive compensation to rebuild their home.
Minister of Health and Seniors Sarah Hoffman confirmed in an emailed statement to the Outlook that the small number of people still in temporary housing have been given until the end of July to move and the department is helping by linking them to other housing options.
“We are pleased the vast majority have found permanent housing,” she said in the email.
The DRP program has received 86 applications from Exshaw residents and 76 of those files have been closed to date. Two remain in appeal and approximately $560,000 has been paid so far. In comparison, Canmore residents have submitted 279 applications to the DRP, 252 have been closed and $2.86 million paid.
The hamlet was devastated by the flooding of Exshaw and Jura creeks, with close to 75 per cent of homes affected.
Reeve Dene Cooper said while some flood victims have moved out of the temporary housing, there are still some in the homes who were renting at the time of the flood and others whose homes were badly damaged and are still being restored or demolished.
“The needs are a spectrum of need, not a single definition of need, so probably the needs are as individual as the cases of the people involved,” Cooper said. “In some cases, clearly the need has been met because the flood housing is unoccupied.
“On the other hand, there are some people who have not built their houses, they have just demolished it, so they have substantial need as they move forward with whatever plans are available to them and I think there are some people that are not quite done, but have made substantial progress.”
As for those who were renting at the time of the flood and have not been able to find housing since, Cooper noted they are entering a very difficult market when it comes to affordability.
“It is unfortunate that these plans are sometimes one size fits all and that is not the way this works,” he said. “If you hold with that philosophy, you are not going to meet the needs of real people.
“We know that housing was temporary, that was clearly understood. What was not clearly understood is how long some of these negotiations with the flood recovery programs would take and not every file is settled.”
Exshaw resident Sue Arlidge is still in temporary housing after the flood and has received notice to move out.
“I have been evicted by Alberta community housing and I am still paying a mortgage on a house destroyed in the flood,” she said. “I am homeless.
“Our best choice would have been bankruptcy. That's not right; my kids need a place to live. I shouldn't be forced out of my community.”
Of particular concern for Aldridge is the mental health effects of the flood and the process residents have had to go through with the DRP on flood victims.
“Somebody needs to say this process does not work,” she said, adding the response to a disaster should have a more coordinated, humane approach.
The Ombudsman for Alberta, Peter Hourihan, was in Canmore in June to provide information on how his office may become involved with flood victims who are frustrated with the provincial disaster recovery program.
Surprisingly, Hourihan said so far his office has not received a single official complaint about the DRP. However, he noted that those seeking the Ombudsman's office to look into how they have been treated must have exhausted absolutely every single avenue of appeal open to them first.
“I cannot be an advocate,” Hourihan added. “I can point you in the right direction, but I can't act on your behalf as I am supposed to be an independent office.
“That is a challenge for a lot of people, a lot of people quite frankly are looking for an advocate when they come to our office.”
He said he expects in the future that his office will receive files to investigate related to the flood and “we are going to watch for it and see how the government handles it.”
“There are a lot of people who are frustrated, but from our perspective, we are an office of last resort. I can tell you this, there is no end of frustration someone in a flood has to go through and we know that.”
Arlidge was at the meeting and expressed frustration that the office of the Ombudsman has not stepped up to investigate the DRP process, knowing how many people are still two years later fighting for compensation from the province. She was also concerned that despite the fact her file has not exhausted all appeal options available, government officials have referred her to the Ombudsman's office even though it cannot begin an investigation at this point.
“This was the largest disaster in Canadian history and clearly something needs to change,” she said. “We are stuck in a bureaucratic process that is so sick we won't be complaining to you (the Ombudsman) for four years.
“As many as 1,000 families in Alberta are still out of their homes and I am one of the last people speaking because everyone else is beaten down and exhausted.”
Hourihan recognized the challenge Arlidge and others are facing two years after the flood and encouraged her to keep telling her story.
“We are trying to bring awareness about what we can and cannot do,” he said. “We need to look into these things and we are starting to hear about the flood now.”
“If I see something wrong with the process, I can comment on that.”
