Windsor Hotel owner asks city for time to look into repairs

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This article was published 09/05/2023 (853 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The new owner of the Windsor Hotel is asking the city for a few months to determine if the building can be saved, after it was recently deemed unfit to live in.

The hotel was shut down by a provincial health hazard order in March, which forced its low-income renters to find new homes.

A city order, dated April 3, demanded the building be properly secured and/or boarded up and that the owner obtain a boarded building permit by April 21. In an appeal of the permit requirement, a representative for the owner says the building is now boarded up.

The letter asks the city to let an assessment of the structure continue until Aug. 31, and then allow for “reasonable time” to complete repairs (if possible) following that date.

“The owner is currently in the process of investigating and doing… due diligence as to whether or not the building can be repaired and made fit for occupation. This will take time,” wrote lawyer Frank Bueti.

The city documents identify the owner only as Garry 187 Enterprises Ltd.

The letter states the owner took possession of the building on Feb. 28 and determined it was “unsafe and unsanitary” at that point.

“The building was in such poor condition that it was not fit for human habitation,” writes Bueti, noting a provincial health hazard order required the building to be vacated in March.

Bueti did not respond to a request for further comment on Tuesday.

The health order, which is included in the city documents, required the owner to vacate the premises unless a long list of issues are addressed, such as ensuring proper heat, providing clean and working washrooms, repairing damaged windows, hiring a pest control professional to treat insects and removing spoiled food, debris and other garbage “causing noxious odours.”

Multiple community groups have helped displaced tenants from the low-rent units find alternative places to live, said Janine Bramadat, a prevention manager for End Homelessness Winnipeg.

About two dozen tenants were affected by the closure. A lack of affordable housing units can make it challenging to meet this type of sudden need, said Bramadat.

“It’s tremendously difficult. There’s obviously a lack of low-income and low-barrier housing and without substantial improvements being made to the housing inventory that are also combined with effective prevention supports, we’re going to continue to see people living in encampments, living rough, couch surfing,” she said.

Bramadat said the incident highlights a need to ensure lower-rent units are kept in a safe condition.

“We’ve seen people (who) would rather be in deteriorated housing (with) unsafe living conditions than out on the street… Low-barrier (housing) should never be uninhabitable for our sisters, brothers, friends, family. They need to be safe, they need to be protected, they need to have doors, they need to have running water, they need to have heat in the winter … And sometimes maintaining the dilapidated buildings that we’re working with and what our housing stock looks like, it’s very difficult to maintain that standard,” she said.

Coun. Sherri Rollins, chairwoman of council’s property and development committee, said work is needed to ensure the provincial and municipal governments work together with social service agencies to prevent homelessness.

“That is still a discussion (needed) between us and other governments… When housing fails, it flows all downstream to social service agencies,“ said Rollins.

The councillor said it may not be possible to relocate all residents before a public health order is issued, since orders are meant to address pressing safety concerns.

Instead, she believes the province and city must work together on prevention efforts to reduce the risk of displacing vulnerable people.

The Windsor Hotel property at 187 Garry St. has a lengthy history in Winnipeg. A boarding house was built at the site in 1903, which was redesigned as a hotel in 1910. It opened as the Le Claire Hotel initially and was renamed the Windsor Hotel in 1930.

Film star Charlie Chaplin was a customer at the Le Claire in 1913.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga