Rooming house sale making waves

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This article was published 29/10/2018 (2677 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The future of a notorious University Heights rooming house, which has a history of bylaw infractions, is uncertain; its previous owner has died and the new owner has put the home up for sale.

The 16-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot property is vacant now, but for years it was run as an illegal rooming house, targeting students from the nearby University of Manitoba, which has one of the lowest rates of on-campus student housing in the country.

The real estate agent hired by the new owner is marketing the house as a “great opportunity” for “income potential up to $93,000 per year.” That suggests the home is being advertised as a rooming house, despite the fact it’s zoned for single-family use.

Coun. Janice Lukes has made cracking down on the illegal rooming houses near the U of M, which often target and take advantage of international students, a priority.

Lukes said the home, which was a fraternity house at one point, has long been a headache for neighbours and has a history of failing to meet building codes that stretches back years.

“Everyone knows about this place. Right from Day 1 it has been on my radar. It has a long history of very bad illegal rooming house stuff. It’s been shut down. There were locks on the doors and the doors were numbered. It has a notorious record,” Lukes said.

Real estate agent Glen Williams, who is listed as the contact on the property’s online ad, did not respond to a request for comment.

Despite the fact the advertisement strongly hints at the home’s future use as a rooming house, Lukes said the city cannot do much until it operates as one. Until that happens, the city’s hands are tied.

“The city is going to be watching it like a hawk,” Lukes said.

Of the 16 bedrooms — which are in the basement, ground and upper floors — 10 are 9 feet x 9 feet or smaller. Four others are 10 feet x 8 feet.

David Burton, who has lived next to the home for more than 40 years, said it’s clear the agent is trying to sell it as an illegal rooming house.

“Several groups of people have come through, and when I can, I’ve gone to speak to them. I say, ‘Look, this is zoned as (single-family occupancy). You can’t operate this as a rooming house. And they say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that,’” Burton said.

“It hasn’t been a pleasant place to have next door for a very long time. It doesn’t do much for the rest of the neighbourhood.”

While the city declined to release details about its past interactions with the previous owner of the building, a property and development committee report from February 2009 offers a window into one such run-in.

That year it came to the attention of the city that the property was being run as an illegal rooming house.

When the previous owner converted the home into “multi-unit, single-room occupancies,” he did not have the required applications and approvals from the city. The construction also breached the Manitoba Building Code and “consequently raises concerns for life safety,” the report reads.

In August 2017, Lukes released a report from University of Manitoba researchers, which she spearheaded, that showed there could be as many as 150 illegal rooming houses in the neighbourhoods around the U of M.

If this house gets repurposed, Lukes would be able to chalk one up in the win column in her battle to make illegal rooming houses around the university history.

If not, and it is used as a rooming house, Lukes said she doesn’t think it will last very long.

“I’ll be watching it. The city will be watching it,” she said. “And fortunately, there are lots of great residents around there. If I miss it, they’ll call me.”

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca @rk_thorpe