Some of the residents who were displaced after a fire at an affordable housing building in Chatham should be able to return home in the next couple of weeks.
A release from the municipality of Chatham-Kent says the repairs at 99 McNaughton Avenue West are on schedule and that residents of Section D in the building should be able to return home by November 15.
Municipal staff will be reaching out to the affected occupants early next month to discuss the details of their return and tenants from Section C in the building are expected to be able to move back in shortly after that.
More information on the plan for Section C residents to move back in is expected to be announced by November 8.
The timeline for affected residents in Sections A and B is a bit longer than that.
Municipal officials said there is currently "no estimated timeline for return to those sections," adding that they both require "extensive repairs and remediation" and that work is expected to take several months to carry out.
In the meantime, the Municipality of Chatham-Kent will continue a time-limited agreement with the owners of Park Street Place in Dresden to house people who were displaced by the fire and have nowhere else to stay. The municipality previously entered into an agreement with the owners of Park Street Place to temporarily rent up to 50 rooms for the displaced residents.
Tenants who chose to stay at Park Street Place received a private room with a bathroom, a bed, and a mini fridge. The cost of their stay also covered three meals per day and one snack.
Municipal officials said the tenants who chose to stay at Park Street Place were also required to pay 75% of their income to access that option with the municipality subsidizing the rest of the cost.
A previous notice from the municipality said that 90 of the 120 units at the apartment complex were affected by the mandatory evacuation after the fire on August 25.
Chatham-Kent police arrested a 30-year-old Chatham woman in connection with the fire, but they are still looking for 48-year-old Leonard Greason of Chatham in connection with the case. He is currently on the CK Police Service's Most Wanted List and is wanted for arson with disregard for human life.