About 200 residents displaced by a fire at a downtown highrise will be moving from temporary shelter at a community centre in nearby Regent Park, the city says.

The move, announced by the city in a Wednesday news release, comes more than a month after fire emptied the apartment building at 650 Parliament St., in Toronto’s St. James Town neighbourhood. The change allows the city to reopen the Regent Park Community Centre for recreational programming — a step several community members called for on Wednesday, a day after the shooting death of 15-year-old Mackai Jackson about a block from the centre.

The ongoing responsibility for housing the families displaced by the fire, the city said, rests with the building’s owner and its property manager, Wellesley Parliament Square Property Management.

Residents at the community centre were informed verbally and in writing on Wednesday evening that they would be moved into hotels starting Thursday. The building’s property management has secured rooms at Kimpton Saint George Hotel, Doubletree and Holiday Inn.

The community centre had been housing about 200 of 1500 residents displaced by the fire. Residents put up in hotels by the city and Red Cross shortly after the fire were encouraged to find other accommodations when hotels started getting booked up.

Wellesley Parliament Square Property Management has been searching for accommodation since the fire happened, spokesperson Rhoda Eisenstadt said. She said that building management was having a difficult time securing spaces because of events like TIFF and “the city’s low vacancy rate.”

“The owners of the property management company and many consultants have been sourcing options for ... a number of weeks. You don’t just show up with a bunch of hotel rooms overnight,” Eisenstadt said.

In the news release, the city said regular recreation programs will resume at the community centre on Oct. 1.

“The City of Toronto would like to thank the agencies, residents, organizations and businesses who stepped forward with offers of financial aid, clothing and other donated goods and housing accommodations,” the statement said. “The ongoing generosity was warmly received and appreciated by hundreds of 650 Parliament St. residents.”

Community leaders had for weeks expressed their frustration that the centre was closed for regular programming while it housed displaced families.

Jackson was shot in a Toronto Community Housing apartment building about a block north of the community centre shortly after school hours on Tuesday. Community members said Jackson, who loved basketball, may have been alive today were the centre open for public use and programming.

Stephanie Beattie of the Regent Park Neighbourhood Association said Jackson may have been playing basketball at the centre at the time he was killed, if it was open.

After the fire on Aug. 21, the city and Red Cross Canada opened up 24-hour emergency shelters and found hotel accommodations for residents.

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With files from Gilbert Ngabo.