Tenants question why province is footing bill for displaced Birchwood Terrace residents, not building owner

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Peggy

The province has been footing the bill for displaced tenants of Birchwood Terrace for over 110 days after the building was found structurally unsafe — a seemingly never-ending saga has left some tenants living in the hotel questioning why the government is paying instead of the property owners.

An unknown number of evacuees from the St. James building remain housed in a Winnipeg hotel, their lives stuck in limbo, without their beds or furniture after a serious structural deterioration led to the evacuation of some 250 tenants in May.

Debby Ross and her two cats lived at Birchwood Terrace for five years. She is living in a hotel and says she has no choice but to wait out the repairs because finding a pet-friendly apartment in her price range in the area has been difficult, if not impossible.

She feels abandoned by Ladco Company Ltd. — which owns Birchwood Terrace — and thinks they should be paying for the displaced residents’ hotels.

“Honest to God, they should be paying the price for us. It should not be the city or the province,” Ross said.

“They should have been beside us all the way.”

‘I wouldn’t wish this on anyone’

Joyce Hilborn, who lived in her two-bedroom suite for over three decades, says she is grateful the province is helping them, but thinks the company needs to take some responsibility.

“When you are owning a building, you should keep it up to standard. And they certainly haven’t done that,” she said.

“It’s very upsetting, we didn’t choose to live here [in the hotel]…I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”

A picture of a woman with grey hard and black glasses wearing a hoodie, standing in a hotel room. — Joyce Hilborn lived at Birchwood Terrace for over three decades. She says she has no choice but to stay in the hotel paid for by the province and wait for repairs to be completed. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

Hilborn and Ross are just some of the many residents still displaced after the City of Winnipeg issued an order to evacuate the 171-suite building on Portage Avenue on May 9. This came after serious structural deterioration was found in steel columns of the building’s parkade.

For Hilborn, the possibility of finding a similar apartment for an affordable price in the area is unlikely — leaving her no choice but to wait for repairs to be complete.

“Most of us are on fixed incomes and I intend to stick to my budget. I don’t intend to go into debt because of somebody else’s negligence,” she said.

A representative for the company declined CBC’s request for comment.

Gov’t doesn’t know how much it spent

On Sept. 3, CBC asked a government spokesperson how much they’ve spent housing displaced residents and how many remain in a hotel. Weeks later, there is still no clear answer.

“As this issue is ongoing and involves funding from multiple sources, we do not have finalized numbers,” said Ryan Stelter in an emailed statement.

No cost estimate was given when it was announced on May 30 the province would be taking over the housing costs after the Canadian Red Cross support ended.

The cost to government, so far, is likely over a million dollars, based on the current rates at the hotel and the number of tenants still displaced..

It costs about $160 a night to stay at the hotel and tenants were told by the caretaker some 60 residents were waiting to move back in. There were also tenants staying in the hotel at the beginning of June who have since found alternate housing.

Date to move back unknown

When the tenants will be allowed to move back into their homes is still unknown.

“Christmas” was Hilborn’s reply when asked when she thinks they’ll be able to move back.

“And if people think that we are having a good time in here, you’ve got to give your head a shake,” Ross said.

“If it wasn’t for the government paying for it, I don’t know what we would do.”

A sign on an apartment building that says "BIRCHWOOD TERRACE" is pictured. — Residents were given just hours notice that they needed to evacuate their unit at Birchwood Terrace after after serious structural deterioration was found in steel columns of the St. James building’s parkade. (Justin Fraser/CBC)

In June, Premier Wab Kinew said he believes the owner should be covering some of the costs that resulted from the evacuation.

“You have a private company who’s created a situation of stress for so many people, and now it’s up to the taxpayers of Manitoba to step in. Is that fair?” he said on June 19.

“I don’t know what the specific remedy is yet. We’re going through that process of figuring out how we address this situation.”

Tenants got an email on Sept. 12 from the property owners telling them it will still take months for them to complete the repairs to the parkade, but are hoping the city would approve occupancy for some suites to be rented out by mid-October.

The goal is to have the entire complex rented out by the end of November, they wrote.

“Unfortunately, these dates can’t be guaranteed,” the email stated. The city will have to review their repairs and approve an occupancy permit first, they wrote.

A spokesperson for the city said before occupancy is approved, they will need to lift the evacuation order. Lifting the order won’t happen until it is confirmed that the property no longer represents a public safety risk, wrote the spokesperson in an email statement.