The Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) will not be left homeless and may have office space for next year, RRRA president Omar Bainto said at a council meeting Nov. 25.
Carleton’s vice-president (university services) Ed Kane has mentioned moving the RRRA office to the housing department office inside Stormont House, Bainto said.
Kane confirmed via email that he had met with RRRA and was “committed to working together to arrange suitable space,” but he did not mention a specific space proposed for RRRA.
“I think the petitions were successful in gaining people’s attention . . . because a day or two after those petitions were posted up by the housing office, I was contacted by Ed Kane, and he requested a meeting,” Bainto said.
Earlier this November, RRRA gathered over 1,200 signed petitions that voiced concerns over the association not having secured office spaces for next year, having to pay rent for an unoccupied room, and having to pay for the upcoming renovation of convenience store Abstentions.
RRRA covered the hallway around the housing office with the petitions before being asked to take them down by campus security officers.
However, there is no definite location confirmed at the moment, according to housing director David Sterritt.
“My colleagues and I in the Department of Housing and Conference Services are presently involved in a process of reviewing various spaces in the Commons Building and other locations throughout the Residence, in an effort to determine what space could be made available to RRRA in the future,” Sterritt said via email.
“To date, we have not completed our work and therefore have nothing to report concerning what might be offered to RRRA.”
Sterritt also said room 209 Residence Commons, a space that was rented by RRRA but converted into a classroom this summer, will be returned to RRRA.
Bainto said Sterritt has also asked for a rental adjustment for the time RRRA was not occupying the space, but still paying rent for it.
“It’s just funny because it’s taken a really long time to get to this point,” Bainto said.
According to Bainto, Kane said “he was sorry that it got to the point that we had to put out petition . . . but he said he is committed to working with us to find a resolution.”
Bainto said RRRA is still working with the housing department to decide on whether or not Abstentions will be renovated and how the cost of the renovations will be paid.
