“No one should live on this property” – Winnipeg Free Press

Residents of dilapidated townhouses in the Lord Roberts neighborhood await their fate as the owner appeals a city order to vacate the premises and clean up the grounds.

The property includes row houses in the 300 block of Arnold Avenue. It has a gray and cracked brick exterior, several broken windows, deteriorated stairs and damaged doors and locks.

The city ordered the building vacated in February after inspectors found significant safety issues, including a large section of the structure's east wall that appeared to be “leaning outward” and has since begun to collapse, according to a city report.

According to the report, inspectors also found overfilled trash cans, exposed electrical wiring, unauthorized interior renovations, rotting or skewed stairs, possible water leaks and possible raw sewage leaking into the second-floor kitchen. the unit below.

“Based on information discovered during the inspection of the above-mentioned site… (the property) is in a dangerous condition with a risk of harm to people, animals and neighboring properties,” the February enforcement document said.

The order set the vacancy until February 23, after which the property owner appealed.

As of Tuesday, people were still living inside.

“The first day we moved in, it was really bad,” said one tenant, an immigrant from Ghana, who asked not to be named.

The woman said the day she moved in with her husband, her new suite was full of women's clothes, trash and used drug needles. She wanted to file a complaint with the provincial housing rental branch, but was intimidated by the process.

At least one other person, an older generation, lives in a suite in a 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 in recent months for a total of six units at 348, 350 and 352 Arnold Avenue. No public health order has been issued for 346 Arnold Ave., home to a man and woman from Ghana, a provincial spokeswoman said.

“This building and its owner are the worst affected in our area,” said Justin Pauls, who lives next door to the two-story house on Arnold.

Real estate owner Alen Planincic bought the houses in 2016, according to the tax report.

He is preparing for an April 22 hearing with the city's Planning and Property Committee, where he will be asked to defend his appeal.

Planincic appealed a city order to improve security at the property more than a year ago. The Committee rejected this claim.

The Free press Planincic could not be reached Tuesday, but the realtor who recently listed the property spoke on her behalf. Rahim Mirza denied allegations that the building was dangerous or unsanitary.

“If anything, it's really a cosmetic issue in nature rather than a structural problem,” he said by phone. “I can tell you right now all the facilities have running water, no sewer.”

Planincic previously told the planning committee that Mirza is the property manager and “deals with issues as they arise.”

Mirza rejected that characterization, saying he worked mainly as a consultant and had “nothing to do” with the day-to-day management of the property.

Number. Property and Development Committee Chair Sherry Rollins described the building as “very, very troubling” and said multiple levels of the city and government are working to close it.

“Nobody should be living on this property,” he said.

In the past two years, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews have responded to departments 22 times to provide emergency medical care and three times to fires, according to city records.

Councilman Planincic acknowledged that efforts to appeal executive orders have led to bureaucratic red tape.

“It could take years. “On the one hand, it's completely indefensible, on the other hand, we believe in due process and people are innocent until proven guilty,” he said.

He said that he will openly review Planincic's upcoming appeal hearing.

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Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press' city desk. Since joining the paper in 2022, he's been on a blizzard, documenting protests and checking under bridges for potential incidents.

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