Birchwood Terrace residents still searching for answers, accommodations

Evacuated residents of a Winnipeg apartment building are still searching for answers and accommodations, days after they were forced to leave.

More than 200 residents of Birchwood Terrace on Portage Avenue were ordered to vacate Thursday due to the building being in unsafe condition. The evacuation order came after a city inspection of the building, which was built in the 1960s, revealed severe deterioration to the columns that support the building.

Many residents say they still have questions concerning how the building fell into such a dire state of disrepair in the first place.

Vitalii Prystupa is one of those residents. He’s been staying in a hotel since Friday through Red Cross, while searching for alternate accommodations.

“(Yesterday) we were driving around Winnipeg trying to find accommodation,” Prystupa told Global News.

“We tried to find buildings where they say ‘for rent’.”

Despite those efforts, Prystupa hasn’t been able to find accommodation just yet. He says Red Cross has extended his stay at the hotel, and adds he’s had to take days off work over the ordeal.

“This is really an urgent situation, we need to find accommodation first,” he said.

He also says most of his furniture and belongings are still in his apartment at Birchwood Terrace, and he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to retrieve them. He also says he hasn’t received any updated from the building’s property owner, Ladco Company Limited, since they hosted a tenant’s meeting on Friday, and still has more questions than answers.

“To explain engineering details (to those) who don’t have the educational background, and who hadn’t slept in 36 hours, I can’t say we perceived that information accurately,” Prystupa said.

Evacuee Des Kappel lived in the building for six years. He says he believes it was poorly maintained, and says he was dealing with a mouse infestation in his unit.

“I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to get a Facebook group going and making inquiries about a possible class action suit,” Kappel said, adding that he hopes its a way residents can stay in touch with one another.

“In the midst of a really lousy situation that was forced upon us, it’s kind of nice to get to know people and make those connections,” he said.

In an emailed statement to Global News, a spokesperson for the City of Winnipeg said 199 people registered at their reception centre for evacuees, and 132 people have required food and lodging. The spokesperson also confirmed that the city does not require property owners to inspect occupied residential properties, and that the city only conducts inspections related to permits.

Global News has reached out to the property owner, Ladco Company Limited, who declined an interview request.

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