It’s move out day for residents who sought shelter at the Regent Park Community Centre after a downtown highrise fire left them homeless.

Residents of 650 Parliament Street were forced from their apartments last month after a fire broke out at the building last month, leaving the electrical system badly damaged.

Weeks of confusion and frustration have followed for the nearly 1,500 residents, which include families with young children.

Some tenants were temporarily housed in hotels paid for by the Red Cross, while others were offered money to rent a new apartment or bunked with friends.

About 100 tenants took to the Regent Park Community Centre after the city offered to designate the space as a makeshift shelter.

That accommodation hit its deadline on Friday as the centre’s normal operations and recreational programs are set to resume on Monday.

The building landlord has arranged for those tenants to stay at two hotels in downtown Toronto.

“We go through the process of asking them, ‘Are they able to stay there?’ And if so, we provide them with an option. If they’re not able to stay there, we provide them with another option,” James Thomas, the response office manager for Wellesley Parliament Square said Friday.

“No one that comes into our response office ever leaves without a place to stay.”

Thomas said their efforts over the last few weeks have been hampered by low vacancy rates in hotels across the city. He pointed to things like the recent Toronto International Film Festival and popular weekends, like Labour Day, as reasons why the tenants have been moved around.

“We don’t want to provide people with an opportunity to stay in a hotel and then a week later say, ‘I’m sorry you have to check out and move to another hotel,’” he said. “We want to make sure that if we can provide them with something that’s longer term until they can move back, then that’s what we’re going to be providing them.”

Previously, residents were told they could return home by Thanksgiving but that date was pushed back on Thursday, with management saying more time is needed to make necessary repairs.

Doug Sartell, the property manager, called the delay “disappointing.”

“We did have hope that we could occupy the north tower sooner,” he said. “However, I think everybody would understand that we wouldn’t want them to come back into a situation that had a potential to echo what happened in the south tower. So we are proceeding extremely cautiously on that.”

Most of the damage was caused by smoke that drifted through the hallways and floors and seeped into ceilings. Extensive work on electrical components, including removal and replacement equipment, is required, Sartell said, particularly in the south tower where the fire started.

“They actually had to remove all of the corridor ceilings in the building because smoke had been trapped beneath that and the concrete. That was quite laborious,” Sartell said.

“It’s a construction site. Ministry of Labour provisions prevail. Everything has to be done in concert with the ministry guidelines, and that’s what’s being done.”

The property managers now expect the restoration work will stretch into early 2019.

A class-action lawsuit has since been launched on behalf of the tenants, claiming entitlement to compensation for loss of income and emotional trauma.

Meanwhile, the city’s use of the community centre as a shelter has come under fire recently.

On Wednesday, in the wake of the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy in Regent Park, community members emphasized the importance of the venue’s programs for the area’s at-risk youth.

In the past, the centre has also been used as an emergency winter shelter for the homeless during extreme weather.

Mitchell Herron moved out of the community centre on Friday morning. He said he’s happy to give the neighbourhood their space back.

“They need it,” he said.

“I feel good about where I’m going, which is downtown, so I’m staying in the area. I feel, in a way, a little upset because I’ve made some friends here. One’s going to one hotel and one goes to another. Hopefully we can get together periodically.”

The tenants staying at the Regent Park community centre had vacated by 10 a.m.