Tenants displaced by a highrise fire on Parliament Street in August will continue to receive housing assistance until April 2019, according to a statement released by the building’s management on Friday.

This announcement comes a week after management decided to halt funding for temporary accommodations as of Nov. 30, giving tenants a little over two weeks to find alternative housing.

Residents held a protest on Monday to call on Toronto Mayor John Tory to appoint a city staff member to manage the situation, saying that the landlord had an obligation to house the displaced tenants.

In response, Tory called the two-week deadline “not acceptable.”

Nearly 1,500 residents living at 650 Parliament Street were forced to leave their homes after an electrical box in the basement of the building caught fire on Aug. 21.

The fire caused significant damage to the building’s electrical and mechanical systems, as well as smoke, water and fire damage to some units.

Building management previously told residents that some of them should be able to return to their homes in early 2019, but in a news release issued Friday, a spokesperson for Wellesley Parliament Square Management said that it could take another six months at minimum before residents are able to return to their apartments.

"We have been working tirelessly to help secure temporary and permanent housing options for all of our residents," said spokesperson Danny Roth in the news release. "We have also begun the monumental task of assessing the damage caused by the fire and have deployed the necessary resources towards the process of rehabilitating the property."

Management has said that tenants who choose to terminate their existing leases will receive a relocation stipend of $5,000, an additional $2,500 for furnishing assistance, and will be given their last month rent cheques back.

Tenants who want to maintain their lease and who are eligible for temporary housing assistance will continue to be able to live in their temporary accommodations until April 30, 2019.

“Market conditions, coupled with the unparalleled financial burdens created by the fire and the building's reconstruction has challenged our ability to satisfy the very real and very compelling needs of our residents," Roth said. "However, with the cooperation of our residents and the support of the city and our insurers, we are striving to meet the challenges we face in a responsible manner."