Source: Winnipeg Free Press

​CANADIANS are struggling with the affordability of housing, as both renters and homebuyers find themselves spending more to keep a roof over their heads.

Winnipeg is no exception. Our city is among six Canadian municipalities in which rent prices are dangerously outpacing wages, according to a 2022 report by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

As the provincial government sells Manitoba Housing stock, many households are on a waitlist for affordable housing, and increasing numbers of our neighbours find themselves forced into encampments. Winnipeg is facing a poverty crisis that only stands to be exacerbated by the potential for unregulated short-term rentals.
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Complaints of multiple break-ins, squatters, scattered used needles and an increase in thefts from neighbouring properties spurred the proposal to raze the large, two-storey house. No one voiced any opposition to fast-tracking the demolition, which normally can’t happen under city bylaws unless a permit to rebuild has already been approved.

Artista Homes Ltd. owns the house and its 17,218-square-foot, triple-wide lot, having taken possession from the previous owner in the spring.

Artista Homes owner Tony Cotroneo told the committee his company has so far spent thousands of dollars to board and reboard the windows because of four separate invoices sent to it from city police, who have been called several times to respond to break-ins.

“So we feel like we are the victims of crime, and these criminals are costing us… However, one of the biggest concerns we have is the safety of the adjacent neighbours,” Cotroneo said, adding he’s heard from residents of the two other homes on the block, saying they feel they can’t safely take out the garbage at night or let their children play in their own yards.
Cotroneo told the city committee he’s asking to demolish the house as soon as possible, “so the neighbours can live in peace and not fear.”

The company had always intended to demolish the former Collard House and rebuild on the lot, he added.

Cotroneo noted he has had trouble getting crews to work on the property, even to cut the grass or drain the pool, after informing them there may be people using drugs living illegally inside the home. Winnipeg police offered to clear the premises so framers could feel safe while they reboarded up the house, he said.

“It’s beyond crazy. It makes me question where the city is heading when you’ve got to clear a house on Wellington Crescent so a framer can go board up a window. It’s just mind-boggling.”

Following the committee’s approval of demolition, Cotroneo said he will begin the process for having the home torn down. Boarding up the building has been almost like an invitation for break-ins because it’s a clear sign no one’s living there, he said.

“Whether it’s a low-income area or whether it’s Wellington Crescent, no one deserves to live in fear.”
The committee unanimously approved the early demolition request, which was backed by the City of Winnipeg urban planning department.

Elsewhere, vacant and derelict buildings are posing problems throughout the city as havens for unsafe or illegal activity, most without fast-tracked demolition permits.

Other neighbours along Wellington Crescent contacted the Free Press (but declined to be interviewed) saying they have had to call police about other vacant homes within a few blocks of each other causing similar problems on one of the city’s wealthiest streets.

City centre community committee member Coun. John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry) said he has been notified about issues at nearby vacant homes, including two others on Wellington Crescent.

The 1188 Wellington Cres. demolition proposal moved forward quickly because of the number of calls to police, complaints under the city’s vacant buildings bylaw, and support from the owner, Orlikow said.
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“If people have concerns about properties, by all means, call our office and we’ll look into it fully and get back to them about what possible solutions there are.”

Source: Winnipeg Sun

Winnipeg mayoral candidate Jenny Motkaluk wants to empower the private sector to take derelict housing and make them affordable rentals.

On Thursday, Motkaluk unveiled a plan to seize vacant properties or houses and auction them off to those who commit to restoring them and making them available for rent within six months of purchase.

Thursday’s announcement follows up on one Motkaluk made earlier in the week detailing her plans to seize derelict properties under the bylaw provisions of the Taking Title Without Compensation process.

Motklaluk says that the majority of affordable housing in Winnipeg is provided by the private sector.

“We need to stop demonizing landlords who provide affordable rentals to our most vulnerable citizens. We will break down barriers to develop and sustain affordable housing in the private market,” she said.

“The city will develop an affordable housing registry where private landlords can be matched with social service agencies, making it easier and faster to find housing for the vulnerable populations served by those agencies.”

Motkaluk says her plan reflects recommendations made by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in their alternative municipal budget for 2022 that Winnipeg should prevent the loss of private market units renting at rates affordable to people living on low incomes.

“The single greatest act of reconciliation that I can think of is to restore dignity and hope to our most marginalized Indigenous neighbours, by providing them with safe and secure housing of their own, where individuals will be free to live their own lives without being judged by others,” Motkaluk said.

Motkaluk is one of 11 mayoral candidates running ahead of the Oct. 26 election.

Motkaluk says her plan reflects recommendations made by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in their alternative municipal budget for 2022 that Winnipeg should prevent the loss of private market units renting at rates affordable to people living on low incomes.
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“The single greatest act of reconciliation that I can think of is to restore dignity and hope to our most marginalized Indigenous neighbours, by providing them with safe and secure housing of their

Source: Winnipeg Free Press

​Vivian Ketchum sees the city workers pull up to the burned-out husks that used to be homes on William Avenue and walks over from the bus stop across the street to give them a piece of her mind.

Something needs to be done about these vacant buildings, the 58-year-old Anishinaabe community activist tells an assistant fire chief, a police staff sergeant and a bylaw officer on a recent afternoon.

Up above, a pigeon is roosting on a third-storey window frame that’s charred black from multiple recent blazes — five total since June 2017. Now, a real estate agent’s sign announces the property at 509 William is for sale: $69,900.

Ketchum worries young Indigenous girls and women are being exploited in vacant and derelict buildings in her neighbourhood. She’s also concerned about the people who pry off the plywood sheets installed over the doors and window frames so they can live inside.
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She walks past the two vacant homes on William Avenue every day, worrying she’ll see a dead body.

Ketchum accompanies the trio as they make their way next door to 511 William. Around back, a discarded couch is surrounded by litter and clothing. Blankets sit near the knocked-over fridge and washing machine at the back entrance.
She worries about the kids who sometimes play in the overgrown grass that hides used needles.

Two weeks ago, the city again boarded up the two houses that once were homes. They’ve been pried off; it’s like the carnival game whack-a-mole, the police staff sergeant says.

“We’re going to make sure these get boarded (up) again, but it’s a struggle to keep it that way,” Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service asst. chief Scott Wilkinson tells Ketchum within earshot of a Free Press reporter and photographer.
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“You can board them up, but…” Ketchum says, pausing a beat, “tear them down. Like, what value — structural value — does this place have?”

Amid increasing numbers of fires in vacant structures this year — as many as two or three a week in the spring and early summer — the fire paramedic service, the Winnipeg Police Service and the bylaw enforcement department got together to develop a new approach to deal with unused buildings.

The effort is under the direction of city’s chief administrative officer, revamping an existing committee dealing with problem properties. The team wants to reduce the number of worrisome spots, making them less dangerous for first responders who might have to enter and, ultimately, dissuade owners from letting buildings rot in the first place.

The three city services are working together in teams that go from property to property on a list, clearing them of squatters and identifying hazards such as holes in the floor and trash piled up. A contractor follows behind to board up the structures that have been broken into.

Previously, the three departments worked in silos; police would clear a building, but bylaw services wouldn’t necessarily be there to immediately board it back up.

We have hundreds and hundreds of these buildings that are problematic — they’re not being maintained, they’re boarded up, they’re sources of arson, fire, criminal activity and they’re not getting dealt with, they’re not moving through the system enough,” says the fire department’s Wilkinson.

“It’s a huge amount for community bylaw to keep track of and try to manage…. We need to find solutions to either have them rehabilitated for affordable housing or get them torn (down) and remove the risk — that’s what we’re trying to do.”

The team has identified 50 buildings to focus on and are using the three service’s existing resources to do so, but will look for potential funding in future budgets to lessen the demands for city services and reduce emergency response calls, fire paramedic service spokeswoman Erin Madden says.

The officials say the committee is examining the potential of bringing the province into the fold, and talking about amending the existing bylaw to assist them.

Bylaw services is enforcing its vacant building directive, which requires entries and windows be boarded up and includes fees that increase yearly on 622 properties city-wide; residential or commercial building owners are charged $2,517 for a boarding permit, which increases yearly by $1,880. A provision, which is a last resort and a difficult one to undertake, is to seize a property without compensating the owner.
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Inner-city neighbourhoods have the most vacant properties — 88 in William Whyte, 32 in Daniel McIntyre and 29 in Dufferin, for example — but the issue exists across the city, data shows; there’s a vacant home on Wellington Crescent and one each in suburban Waverley Heights and Island Lakes.

Recently, the fire department invited the Free Press to watch the new team in action as the officials checked out six addresses in various states of disrepair — from a half-demolished pile of burned rubble to an apartment block that’s likely a candidate for rehabilitation.
MOST VACANT BUILDINGS
Winnipeg neighbourhoods with the most vacant properties, as of Sept. 20, 2022:
• William Whyte: 88
• St. John’s: 41
• Daniel McIntyre: 32
• Dufferin: 29
• St. Matthews: 23
• Spence: 21
• Chalmers: 20
• Centennial: 18
• North Point Douglas: 17
• West Alexander: 17
-City of Winnipeg
On the corner of Anderson Avenue and Salter Street, a two-storey beige brick apartment block — the Viceroy, reads the placard above the door — sits empty, its windows and doors shuttered behind whitewashed plywood screwed tight. The fire department has doused two blazes at the property recently: a fire inside in January 2021 and one outside three months later.
Around the side, in the alley, someone dumped an unwanted love seat; discarded furniture is a common sight on vacant properties, and an arson risk.
Apart from the boards and gang tags and trash littered on the property that’s spread to neighbouring, occupied homes, this old walk-up is something that could — with some elbow grease — be transformed into suitable and affordable housing, police Staff Sgt. Rob Duttchen says.
“We have probably 12 suites here that’s underutilized square footage, that’s a way better alternative to squatting in an unsafe building, heating that building with combustible material, or setting up an encampment where you have all other manners of risk,” he says.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
“For something that’s preventable, that seems like a tragic loss of life when, really, what the person deserves is affordable housing, substance-use treatment,” says WPS Staff Sergeant Rob Duttchen.
On Austin Avenue in North Point Douglas, there are three vacant homes on one block alone — in addition to the derelict property the team initially intended to visit on this afternoon.
Inside the front bay window, peering from the steps where an empty can of Scooby-Doo spaghetti sits, the staff sergeant notices a loaf of bread sitting inside.
Fires inside these homes are a waste of emergency service resources — and potentially, a needless risk to the lives of people illegally resting their heads.
“For something that’s preventable, that seems like a tragic loss of life when, really, what the person deserves is affordable housing, substance-use treatment — let’s deal with the root causes, as opposed to simply allowing them to reside in squalid conditions at a danger to themselves and the public,” says Duttchen.

They make note the house needs to be boarded up, the grass cut and the hydro disabled, before moving on to William Avenue near Isabel Street, where the team meets Ketchum and her concerns.
The William houses will again be boarded up. Duttchen calls for a squad car to sit outside until a contractor arrives with plywood and screws.
On Mayfair Avenue, on the thin point of land between the Assiniboine and Red rivers to the southwest of The Forks, the Penguin House apartment block is a half-demolished shell of beams and piled bricks. The last fire there in late May left it in its current condition. The rest needs to be torn down now, Wilkinson says.
Down the road at 123 Mayfair, what was long ago a nursing home sits with graffiti covering its boarded-up front façade after six fires on the property and inside the building since April 2018. The owner wants to demolish it, but can’t because he doesn’t have a development plan — the usual bylaw requirement obstacle.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

WPS Staff Sergeant Rob Duttchen (left), John Bernuy from Community Bylaw Enforcement Services, and WFPS Assistant Chief Scott Wilkinson at a vacant building on Mayfair Avenue in Winnipeg.
“A piece of green property is much safer,” Wilkinson says.
On the lush riverfront property behind the dilapidated building, the team members insist the city is making some headway, but John Bernuy of community bylaw enforcement services says that requires help from the community.
“If we don’t have community engagement, that’s when we end up with more neglect, because complacency falls in place,” Bernuy says.
The fire department’s Wilkinson is pointed in his message to property owners.
“Just fix the building — don’t make us have to enforce you into doing something, fix the building or take the effort to clear it up, take it down, sell it,” he says. “If you’re not going to do something with a property, you’re going to go to neglect. Try to sell it to someone who will.”

Source: Winnipeg Free Press

Manitoba’s rental market is growing as the rate of home ownership shrinks, according to Canada’s 2021 census.
The prairie province’s number of tenant households has jumped 23 per cent from 2011 to 2021, new Statistics Canada data revealed Wednesday. Meantime, home ownership in Manitoba fell from 70.1 per cent to 67.4.
In 2016, the latest census before last year’s, 68.7 per cent of Manitobans owned homes.
“Why aren’t we helping some of these newcomers… and the younger demographic find a way to get into home ownership?” said Peter Squire, the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board’s head of market intelligence.
Manitoba follows a national trend — across Canada, home ownership has declined and rentals have risen. Only the Northwest Territories saw an increase in home ownership over the past decade.
Rentals comprised 43.4 per cent of new builds in Winnipeg from 2016 to 2021. It exceeds the Canadian average of 40.4 per cent.
Squire believes exemptions on Manitoba land transfer taxes for first-time home buyers would open the gates of ownership to more people.
“Millennials in particular have a very strong preference to become homeowners at some time in their life,” he said. “(Land transfer taxes can) become a real impediment for people.”
Nationally, the share of Canadians aged 25 through 29 owning homes has decreased — 36.5 per cent in 2021, compared to 44.1 per cent in 2011 — as has the chunk of those in the 30 to 34 age range (52.3 per cent were home owners in 2021, down from 59.2 per cent in 2011).
Prairie homeowners reported expecting home value growth of 2.2 per cent, when compared to 2016 valuations. It’s the slowest reported growth in the nation. Expected home values grew 59.4 per cent in Ontario, 36.3 per cent in British Columbia and 29.8 per cent in Quebec.
“We’ve been quite stable (house price wise) up until last year, where we did see that spike,” Squire said. “Things are settling down again as we head into the last quarter of 2022.”
Locally, home prices seemed to skyrocket during the pandemic, but “that was nowhere near what you were seeing in some other… markets across the country,” Squire said.
Fewer Manitoban households were spending 30 per cent or more of their income on shelter in 2021, compared to five years earlier — 17.3 per cent were last year, dipping from 19.1 per cent in 2016.
Winnipeg’s condominium occupancy trails Canada’s average. In 2021, 9.7 per cent of Winnipeggers lived in condos, compared to the national average of 15 per cent.
Ten million Canadian households own their homes, according to Statistics Canada’s release Wednesday. The country’s growth in rental households (21.5 per cent) more than doubled growth in owner households (8.4 per cent) from 2011 to 2021.
Canada’s home ownership rate last year was 66.5 per cent.