![\"Text](\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Listen to this article<\/p>\n
Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n
People displaced by flooding caused by last week’s Canada Day downpour in Ottawa are speaking out about the “dirty” conditions they’ve encountered in emergency accommodations provided by the city.<\/p>\n
The city says it has placed 93 individuals affected by flooding on July 1 with emergency shelter, including in a motel in Bells Corners.<\/p>\n
Among them is Rachel Debeau and her 12-year-old daughter, whose bedrooms and bathroom were flooded when about 25 centimetres of water seeped up from the basement floor of their west Ottawa townhouse.<\/p>\n
The Red Cross provided Debeau and her daughter with a place to stay for the first three days. When that ran out, Debeau contacted the city’s 311 hotline and was offered shelter at the motel on Robertson Road.<\/p>\n
She said their room was in poor condition.<\/p>\n
“[We] had no [air conditioning], microwave was dirty, there was mould on the bathroom walls,\u201d Debeau said. “Then I noticed that the sheets were also stained.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783629131_362_default.jpg\")
Rachel Debeau and her 12-year-old daughter were forced to find emergency accomodations after their west Ottawa townhouse flooded during last week’s Canada Day thunderstorm. (Liam Baker\/CBC)<\/p>\n
Debeau, who works for a non-profit that assists people experiencing homelessness, is now staying with a friend’s sister, while her daughter is staying with another friend.<\/p>\n
She said her experience has opened her eyes to the conditions facing many of her own clients.<\/p>\n
“It kind of shows me why people would prefer to sleep in a place like Minto Park or Dundonald Park,” she said. “I have to fight very hard to get a single person into emergency accommodation, only to find out that [the Roberson Road motel is the kind of] accommodation that I’m fighting hard to get them in.”<\/p>\n
CBC spoke to other flood victims staying at the motel who shared Debeau’s concerns about conditions there.<\/p>\n
Councillors share concerns<\/p>\n
Coun. Riley Brockington, chair of the city’s emergency preparedness and protective services committee, said he shares those concerns.<\/p>\n
“I want to make sure that … accommodations people are sent to are sanitary, they’re clean, they’re welcoming, they’re inviting,” said Brockington, who added he has spoken to city staff about the complaints.<\/p>\n
PHOTOS | Stained sheets, mouldy walls at emergency shelter motel in Ottawa:<\/p>\n
Coun. Laine Johnson, whose ward includes Bells Corners, said she has heard complaints similar to Debeau’s, and noted the city’s emergency accommodations are in extremely high demand.<\/p>\n
“We have over 750 families staying in these hotels and motels across the city right now,” she said. “And so it often becomes a negotiation with property owners to get the property standards up to what is appropriate.”<\/p>\n