Beleaguered tenants fed up with unsafe Manitoba Housing building in Osborne Village

Residents of a Manitoba Housing block in Osborne Village say they are fed up with crime in their building and fear for their safety, a day after a resident was charged for setting fire to it.

Sadie Bergman and her two children have lived at Ash Haven Arms apartment complex at 115 Clarke St. for only a year, but don’t know how much longer they can tolerate the chaos.

“You live here longer and you start to get more mad,” she said Monday. “People are invading my privacy, they’re invading my home.”

The building is constantly being broken into or vandalized, and there are homeless people who stay in the basement and intimidate residents, multiple tenants told the Free Press.

Bergman said there have been several fires in the building in recent months, including one Sunday.

Police say they were sent to the building shortly after 3:30 p.m. and were told by Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service members that a fire there was being investigated as suspicious.

Through their investigation, officers learned that the tenant had set fire to furniture inside his apartment and caused significant damage, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Monday.

A half-burned couch sat in the snow in front of a boarded-up window on the building’s first floor Monday afternoon. The window’s glass pane was on the ground beside it. Residents say firefighters had to kick out the window to get the couch out of the suite to prevent further damage to the apartment.

Police arrested a 52-year-old man inside the building Sunday. He remains in custody.

WPS spokesperson Const. Claude Chancy wouldn’t comment on whether the accused man, who is known to police, was under the influence or having a mental-health episode.

Several residents said the tenant was moved from a homeless encampment into the building by the province as part of its Your Way Home strategy, and that he could be suffering from mental-health issues. He’s described as friendly, but has been seen exhibiting erratic behaviour in the halls and outside the building.

The man’s neighbour, who asked not to be identified, described him as loud and disruptive most days.

Residents say the building’s front and back doors are constantly being broken to gain access to the basement where people seek shelter. Bergman is scared to go down there, which is where the laundry room is, while other residents flat-out refuse.

The basement’s walls are covered in graffiti and discarded cigarette butts can be seen in the building’s stairwell. Bergman says she can’t use the complex’s back doors because of used syringes and she fears her kids will poke themselves.

One resident, who asked to remain anonymous to protect his safety, said he constantly hears screaming in the halls outside his second-floor suite and people banging on his front door at all hours of the day.

He’s lived in the building for more than 10 years and has seen living conditions decline in that time. He’s hoping to find somewhere else to live when his pension kicks in next month.

“It’s terrible,” he said of living at the 50-unit building. “It’s just horrible.”

Residents reported dealing with pest issues, including cockroaches and bedbugs.

The province did not respond to a request to interview Housing Minister Bernadette Smith Monday.

Since Jan. 1, 2025 Manitoba Housing has received 42 complaints about multiple problems, the province said Monday.

No one from from Manitoba Housing was made available for an interview. The agency instead sent a statement detailing its “commitment to addressing concerns raised by tenants and community members at 115 Clarke St.”

The statement said staff provide “person-centred, trauma-informed” support to tenants, and all reported incidents are reviewed.

Each of the 42 complaints lodged against the apartment complex have been reviewed and resolved by staff, according to the statement.

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service couldn’t provide data on how many times they have been called to the building. Residents say fire trucks are regularly called to the five-storey complex on medical calls and, in the last two months, there have been two blazes.

In 2021 the PC government announced $4 million in security upgrades for 12 Manitoba Housing buildings.

Bergman says the upgrades are no match for people using crowbars to force open the door to gain access to the basement and other parts of the building.

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Bergman wants to move, but can’t afford to live anywhere else. She said she’s hoping to find a place in Gimli, where her family lives, but until then is forced to stay in the building with her two kids.

“Everyone says, ‘Get out. Get out. Get out.’ I’m like, ‘Where am I going to go?’”

Resident Chris Graban has finally had enough of the antics in the building. She is planning to move at the end of February, despite having no current prospects for a new living situation.

“Anywhere but here,” she said.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer

Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.

Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.