A North Vancouver family is looking for an affordable home after a fire

A North Vancouver family is looking for somewhere to live after losing their apartment in a fire. The fire department, and the community, are stepping up to help.

The Rezaei family says they’ll have to pay more rent if they want to move to a new place in their fire-damaged apartment building after a Dec. 27, 2022 fire.

Paryas Rezaei says life has been fairly challenging since they lost their home.

“It’s been pretty hard since like it’s, like, small. And if my mom wants to cook, it’s like all tight space and there’s four of us,” she said.

Rezaei found herself in a heroic position during the fire, according to the North Vancouver Fire Department, she took it upon herself to call 911 and knock on neighbours’ doors to warn them about the impending danger.

Despite her action, her family says they can’t move back home, they’re not allowed to.

The Rezaei family says they wont be able to move back home due to the damages.

The fire left 27 units uninhabitable, and Paryas says they were told it could take at least 12 months to restore her family’s suite.

If the family wanted a larger suite, it would cost them around $2,300. Significantly more compared to the $1,800 they were paying before.

“We were paying a good price for our old one because it’s been three years. It’s hard to find a place here that’s the same price. They increase a lot,” Rezaei explained.

The Rezaei family is staying in a hotel room payed by North Vancouver Emergency Management until Jan. 16.

North Vancouver Emergency would not confirm to CityNews what living options have been offered to the Rezaei family.

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Parisa Abdollahioqani, who lives in the same complex as the Rezaei family, has known them since they came to Canada just over three years ago.

“I really hope they get affordable housing, at least within the same rent they were paying,” she said.

Beyond replacing toy cars, gifted chocolates, and accommodations – Abdollahioqani says she’s hoping someone in the community can help the family find a home.

“The room that they they’ve been given, it’s too tiny and they lost everything they had…it’s up to us as a community now to at least pay a little bit back to the family.”

Work to relocate families has just begun.

In a statement, Emily Dicken [she/her] with North Shore Emergency Management says the Rezaei family is a major priority.

North Shore Emergency Management says it’s considering every family’s situation, from where the kids go to school, to how much they were paying for rent.