Source Winnipeg Free Press 

Residents of a dilapidated row of townhouses in the Lord Roberts neighbourhood are awaiting their fate as the owner of the property appeals the city’s orders to vacate the premises and clean the place up.
The property encompasses row houses on the 300 block of Arnold Avenue. It features a grey and cracked brick exterior, several shattered windows, deteriorated steps and damaged doors and locks.
In February, the city ordered the building be vacated, after inspectors identified serious safety issues, including a large section of the structure’s eastern wall which was “observed to be bowing outward” and has since begun to crumble, a city report says.

According to the report, inspectors also found overfull garbage bins, exposed electrical wires, interior renovations completed without permits, stairways that were rotten or slanted, potential water leaks and evidence that raw sewage may have leaked from one second-storey suite into the kitchen of a unit below.
“Based on our findings during the above-noted site inspection… (the property) poses a risk of harm to people, animals and neighbouring properties, and therefore is in an unsafe condition,” reads the February enforcement order.
The order gave a vacancy deadline of Feb. 23, which was later appealed by the property owner.
As of Tuesday, there were still people living inside.
“The first day we moved here it was so bad,” said one tenant, an immigrant from Ghana who asked not to be named.
On the day the woman and her husband moved in, she said their new suite was littered with soiled women’s clothing, garbage and used drug needles. She wanted to file a complaint with the provincial Residential Tenancies Branch, but was intimidated by the process.
Some of the front doors to the suites have no deadbolts and are being held shut by small brackets.
At least one other person, a senior, lives in a suite in the same row house. On Monday, they were both told they had one day to move out, the woman said.
The province has issued health hazard orders for a total of six units at 348, 350 and 352 Arnold Ave. in recent months. No public health orders have been issued for 346 Arnold Ave., where the senior and the woman from Ghana live, a provincial spokesperson said.
“This building, and its owner, have been by far the worst influence in our area,” said Justin Pauls, who lives beside the two-storey row house on Arnold.
The property owner, Alen Planincic, purchased the houses in 2016, tax records show.
He is preparing for an April 22 hearing with the city’s planning and property committee, in which he will be asked to defend his appeal application.

Planincic previously appealed a city order to improve safety conditions on the property more than a year ago. The committee denied that appeal.
The Free Press was unable to reach Planincic on Tuesday but a realtor who recently listed the property spoke on his behalf. Rahim Mirza denied allegations the building was unsafe or unsanitary.
“If anything, its more of a cosmetic in nature issue, rather than actually structural defects,” he said by phone. “I can tell you, as of right now, there is working water in all the units, there is no sewage.”
Planincic previously told the planning committee that Mirza was the property manager and would “deal with issues as they arise.”
Mirza denied this characterization, saying he has operated mostly as a consultant and has “nothing to do” with the daily management of the property.
Coun. Sherri Rollins, chair of the property and development committee, described the building as “very, very concerning” and said the city and multiple levels of government have been working to shut it down.
“Nobody should be living at this property,” she said.

Source: CTV News

​A Winnipeg man is raising a red flag after his landlord said no to health-care equipment that could change his life – a problem he believes is a human rights issue.

Alan MacKay, 77, lives with Type 2 diabetes and kidney function loss. It's a condition that requires him to go to the hospital for dialysis four times a week.

A Winnipeg man is raising a red flag after his landlord said no to health-care equipment that could change his life – a problem he believes is a human rights issue.

Alan MacKay, 77, lives with Type 2 diabetes and kidney function loss. It's a condition that requires him to go to the hospital for dialysis four times a week.

"It's my life. If I don't have this dialysis machine hooked up to me, I'm dead," he said.

MacKay said the whole process of travelling to the hospital for dialysis takes about eight hours, but he could get a huge portion of his life back with an at-home dialysis machine in his apartment.

The cost would be covered by Shared Health through the Manitoba Renal Program. The program's website notes it would return the rental unit to its original state, excluding paint, if the patient moves or ends the dialysis treatment.
"This is all being denied to me because the answer from the property manager is no," MacKay said, adding he was told he isn't able to get the at-home machine because his landlord denied the request.

The building's property manager Ryan Cerezo told CTV News in an email that he was informed the machine would require modifications to the cabinets, plumbing and electrical.

"Some changes would be left permanent," he said in an email. "I was left with a yes or no option to continue with the installation."

Cerezo said he chose not to proceed.

Shared Health tells CTV News landlords do need to sign off on any home dialysis equipment.

"If someone lives in a rental property, they must obtain legal written consent from the property owner for any renovations that would be required to safely and properly house the equipment," a spokesperson for Shared Health told CTV News.

"No landlord has a right to deny you your health care. Absolutely not," said MacKay.

It's a problem Laura Tamblyn Watts, the CEO of a national seniors advocacy organization CanAge, said she has seen across the country.

"This is where we see ableism, discrimination against people with disabilities, and ageism collide," she told CTV News.
She said the system right now creates two-tiered health care.

"If this particular gentleman owned his own home or had control over his own housing, he would be the one to make these decisions, and he would then be able to age in place at home with the care such as dialysis that he needs," she said.
"Because he doesn't own his own home and he's having to work with a landlord, he's in a much more vulnerable situation. And it means that he's not getting the benefits as somebody who owns their own home would have."

Shared Health told CTV News the right to home dialysis is protected under the Manitoba Human Rights Code as a reasonable accommodation.

"Landlords are encouraged to understand what rights there are to accommodate under the Code," it said in a statement. "Anyone who feels their rights are being compromised under the code should contact the Manitoba Human Rights Commission."

That's exactly what MacKay has done. He said he's filed a complaint with the commission, but was told it could be two years before his complaint is heard.

While it can't comment on specific cases, the Manitoba Human Rights Commission told CTV News the Human Rights Code requires employers, service and housing providers to uphold the right to equality and non-discrimination in Manitoba. This includes the right of tenants to reasonably accommodate to the point of undue hardship.
Shared Health said tenants can also reach out to the Residential Tenancies Branch, which can tell landlords what their obligations are in cases like this.

With no immediate course of action, MacKay said his only option is to continue travelling to the hospital for care he said he should be allowed to access in his own home.
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"If it's happening to me, it could happen to anybody else," he said. "And that's wrong. Totally wrong." 

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, announced these measures from the upcoming Budget 2024 are to make the playing field fairer for renters and make it easier for them to become homeowners.
Justin has indicated that these are the steps that they will take:

• Launching a new $15 million Tenant Protection Fund
• Creating a new Canadian Renters’ Bill of Rights
• Making sure renters get credit for on-time rent payments

 
Now if we break down each point from a Manitoba Perspective.
  

• Launching a new $15 million Tenant Protection Fund. This would provide funding to legal aid and tenants’ rights advocacy organizations to better protect tenants against unfairly rising rent payments, renovictions, or bad landlords.

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In Manitoba – not sure which organization would be receiving these funds, since we already have RTB thru out Manitoba. So, I will say that no funding for this will come to Manitoba or if it does it will go to RTB, who already do a very good job of protecting the tenants.

Our pinion, when we read unfair rising rents, renovictions, or bad landlords. We think about all the unfair other costs that we have had to deal with and I don’t see Justin stepping in to help these situations, rising gas prices, cost of food, utilities etc.

So why is Justin calling out landlords, when the other business are able to raise prices in order to stay in business. I guess people do not see rentals as a business, even if they are owned by the province.

• Creating a new Canadian Renters’ Bill of Rights, developed and implemented in partnership with provinces and territories. This would require landlords to disclose a clear history of apartment pricing so renters can bargain fairly. We will also crack down on renovictions, create a nationwide standard lease agreement, and give renters more agency.

When I heard this one, I could not help but think really did you just say that. What I am referring to is the comment about bargain fairly. Again where else in Canada can you walk into a business and bargain over the price.

When was the last time you walked into a grocery store and ask them for a history of  the prices over the past couple of months, then bargain with them over the price of what you want to pay? Why would someone get to do this with a rental property?

Not sure what he was getting at with the comment of giving the renters more agency? I guess we’ll have to wait and see on this one.
 

• Making sure renters get credit for on-time rent payments. Renters deserve credit for the money they put toward rent over the years, especially when it comes time to apply for a mortgage for their first home. We’re going to amend the Canadian Mortgage Charter and call on landlords, banks, credit bureaus, and fintech companies to make sure that rental history is taken into account in your credit score.

Out of all of the points that were made about the Renter’s Bill of Rights – I am all in favour of this one – reporting the rental history.

However, Elite is already ahead of him on this one as we have already established a rental history reporting.

Join the other landlords that are using our FREE rent reporting service that allows landlords to report on a regular basis the status of the rents for their tenants. 

To learn more visit us at elitecra.com

The major flaw with Justin’s approach is that he is only targeting millennials and Gen Z, what about the renters that don’t have credit (ones that don’t work). How would you ever build a rental history for those that don’t work but pay their rent on time and are trying to get into a better place?
With Elite we allow all Landlords and tenants to establish a rental history. Which is a different approach then just targeting a certain age group.

As Landlord and a Business, we are like everyone else, we would like to know about the people we are allowing into our units. We would like to have tenants that will pay their rent, take care of our places. No different then someone looking to buy a house, car or get a credit card.

Like any other business there are good and bad landlords as well as good and bad tenants. Put when it comes to bad as we all know everyone gets painted with the same brush. 

With these posts we do try to capture both sides of the story.
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We welcome you comments.

Check back often as there is a lot more to come of this as the government pursuer's these measures.