TCHC tenant still living in empty building slated for demolition

There is now a padlock on the front door of 14 Blevins Place, the empty 14-storey Regent Park building originally slated for demolition on Oct. 6.

Empty that is, except for Candice McGowan and her two teenage children, who more than a week later continue to live in their ground-floor apartment with a separate entrance, holding up the demolition as her lawyer and the Toronto Community Housing Corporation continue to discuss temporarily moving the family elsewhere.

The issue, as previously reported by the Star, is that McGowan is not a tenant in good standing and has been battling eviction by the TCHC since February 2013 for allegedly having multiple loaded handguns in her apartment, owing rent and misstating her income.

McGowan claims there is no basis for the eviction, and that she had no knowledge of guns in the apartment. On Tuesday, McGowan told the Star that the next hearing date at the Landlord and Tenant Board has been scheduled for Dec. 3.

In the meantime, the TCHC confirmed that they are continuing to have discussions with McGowans legal counsel about providing McGowan and her children with temporary housing.

The TCHC has stated that it will cost $10,000 per day to have demolition equipment and contractors sitting idle.

Our contractors are still proceeding with work on other buildings nearby, TCHC spokesperson Sara Goldvine said Tuesday.

It is unclear how long it will be before that $10,000 price tag kicks in.

Meanwhile McGowan, who is currently unemployed and says she and her children have nowhere else to go, says she is becoming increasingly anxious about living in the vacated building.

She has her own washer and dryer, but the laundry room she would otherwise rely on is now inaccessible, she says.

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TCHC tenant still living in empty building slated for demolition