Street Links exec fined for trespassing as some evicted tenants return to College Avenue apartment

Posted on July 22, 2024 by Peggy

As some tenants who were evicted from a North End Winnipeg apartment got a new set of keys to return home on Monday, one of the people helping them received a fine for trespassing on the property.

Marion Willis, executive director of the outreach organization St. Boniface Street Links was assisting displaced tenants at 285 College Ave. when the police handed her a $672 ticket for trespassing.

Willis said she would be arrested if she entered the building to continue advocating for the tenants, who have lost all of their belongings, and to help them get settled with new furniture.

“I’ve had our lawyer contact his lawyer and his lawyer has responded by saying that St. Boniface Street Links is now barred, all of us are barred from that building,” Willis said.

She said the owner barred her from another apartment building that houses some of her clients, which will now prevent them from accessing services to St. Boniface Street Links.

While Willis says she is going to try and fight the ticket, but she also worries about the health and safety of the tenants who are moving back into the apartment more than a week after they were told to immediately vacate the building.

The tenants were given cash to find temporary housing after a notice saying the building was shut down was posted at the front entrance. The province later responded, saying the evictions were illegal.

As the building’s new owner starts renovations, one couple with a four-month-old baby says the apartment is in rough shape.

“Looks pretty bad in there,” tenant Devony Hudson said. “It’s all ripped out and like it looks pretty trashed like the floor in the hallway is all ripped up too.”

A man and woman sit on the steps of a red brick apartment outside. — Dwayne Sumner and Devony Hudson wait to receive the keys to their old apartment suite on 285 College Ave. after were evicted, alongside dozens of other tenants, more than a week ago. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

Hudson and her partner Dwayne Sumner waited outside to get the keys to their old suite. She said all of their belongings were thrown out, including their furniture.

“It doesn’t even feel the same. It feels different, just empty. So many people lost all of their stuff here,” Hudson said.

Sumner said his family is temporarily moving back into the apartment because they no longer feel safe and respected.

“Home is supposed to feel like you’re protected, like no one could invade your space, but living here, it doesn’t feel like that,” he said.

“I lost a lot of stuff, especially our baby stuff which is memories, you know, you can never get back.”

A man with a guitar on his back stands next to a women wearing a white shirt in an empty apartment kitchen. — Tenant Melvin Williams and Marion Willis, executive director of the outreach organization St. Boniface Street Links, discuss getting Williams new furniture after his was thrown out during a mass eviction at an apartment. Shortly after this, Willis was issued the trespassing fine. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

Another tenant, Melvin Williams, was also getting the keys back to his old suite on Monday.

“It’s better than tent city,” Williams said, adding that he’s been staying in an encampment for more than a week with his two prized possessions: his guitar and bike.

His apartment suite was completely empty when he walked through it with Willis and other St. Boniface Street Links outreach workers.

Williams wonders if he is going to be reimbursed by the landlord for all of the furniture that was thrown out during the mass eviction, which includes a brand new bed, couch, kitchen table and chairs, cookware and bathroom towels that he received as start-up housing package from St. Boniface Street Links when he first moved into the building.

Willis said it was disheartening to watch Williams look through his cupboards and rooms to find that everything was gone. She says her organization will have to find him some used furniture to make his place feel like home again.

While some tenants are moving back into the building because they have nowhere else to go, Willis says three of her clients who used to live there have moved into a three-bedroom house and others are concerned about whether they might be evicted from 285 College Ave. again.

A man stands outside wearing orange sunglasses. — Tenant Kyle Lemke said he feels traumatized after being evicted from 285 College Ave and he does not wish to return. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

“I don’t even want to see my empty apartment,” tenant Kyle Lemke said. He’s staying in a hotel and hopes to get help from Manitoba Housing soon.

“There was no option of going back when he said ‘get out.’ It wouldn’t feel safe and quite honestly, I feel traumatized from it.”

Lemke said the owner has no regard for anyone’s well-being and he wants to hold him accountable in court.

“If it’s not criminal to walk into someone’s house and say, you know, ‘Get out on the weekend. All your stuff is mine.’ Basically, if it’s not criminal, it has to affect his pocketbook in a very, very hurtful way.”

Last week, the Residential Tenancies Branch issued 32 lockout orders and are continuing to investigate what happened, a provincial spokesperson said in an email on Monday.

CBC could not reach the owner through his lawyer for comment.

Depending on the outcome of the investigations, the province said more orders could be coming along with fines and prosecution.