Tenants forced to vacate fire-trap building move to riverbank camp

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/08/2023 (786 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Terry Johnsen is right back on the same riverbank where he started.

On Tuesday, he was rebuilding his “home” next to the Assiniboine River, near the Maryland Bridge, nearly one year after he had been removed from a homeless camp at that very site. One day earlier, he was one of dozens of tenants forced to vacate their apartment building in the West End because of a raft of fire code violations.

“One year ago today, I was here. Now I’m still here,” the 62-year-old said as he gestured to the tarps, tents, metal scraps and discarded plastics that litter the Maryland site.

“Everything that we are has been thrown away by somebody… Some days you just don’t want to get up.”

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service issued an order to vacate the Adanac Apartments (737-743 Sargent Ave.) by 2 p.m. Monday, after officials identified several significant safety issues.

On Tuesday, Johnsen was among roughly eight former tenants who had settled in the encampment, which has been built, removed and re-built near the intersection of Maryland Street and Wellington Crescent for at least five years.

The group’s return to the riverbank typifies the endless cycle for people trapped in poverty, homelessness and addictions, he said.

“I know people want to know what we’re doing here and what our intentions are. Our intentions are just to get into a safe environment… All of us just want to get our future on,” Johnsen said. “That’s all these people want and it can be done, it’s just that there’s no miracle cure. It’s one step at a time, and that first step would be housing.”

St. Boniface Street Links co-ordinated helped Johnsen and about 18 others set up in the Adanac block last November. Before the order to vacate was issued, two returned to the streets, 10 remained living there and six others were able to upgrade to more stable housing, said executive director Marion Willis.

“We need not to applaud the closing down of a troublesome building. We need to think about how we make this building safer and work as low-barrier supportive housing for people in need because if they stay closed, we have no choice but to leave people in encampments,” Willis said.

“It’s disheartening at best… It’s like being a hamster on a wheel, isn’t it? Just going around and around and around. It’s dizzying.”

Social organizations and staff from the City of Winnipeg and provincial government worked jointly to find shelter for people displaced by the order to vacate, but Willis fears most slipped through the cracks.

Karin Harper-Penner, who owns the property with her husband, Patrick Penner, has told the Free Press the 48-unit building had 38 active leases at the time of the vacate order, but many others stay there with friends.

Willis estimated 60 to 100 people will be directly affected by the closure. Many have addictions, mental health issues and cognitive challenges, she said.

Siloam Mission CEO Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud could not estimate how many people were rehoused Monday, but commended the various organizations and officials for coming together at short notice to support the displaced tenants.

Nobody from the apartment arrived at the Salvation Army’s transitional or emergency shelters Monday, spokesperson Al Hoeft said.

Main Street Project did not respond to requests for a statement.

In an email Tuesday, the fire paramedic service said it had no choice but to close the Adanac, due to the “extreme risks” posed to residents, firefighters, nearby properties and the environment in the event there’s another fire there.

“While any decision to issue a vacate order is a difficult one, we have an obligation to take steps to protect residents and prevent the loss of lives and property,” WFPS spokesperson Erin Madden said in an email.

A fire inspection conducted at the apartment last week identified several concerns, including a malfunctioning fire alarm system, insufficient smoke alarms and limited access to extinguishers and fire escapes.

“WFPS has worked collaboratively with the Adanac Apartment property owners for the past several months to resolve the specific issues that remain outstanding. However, conditions in the building have continued to deteriorate to the point where occupants’ safety was at risk and a vacate order was necessary.”

Property owners are legally responsible for adhering to fire prevention bylaws, she said.

Since 2019, the WFPS has issued only six full vacate orders, including one at another property owned by the Penner family in 2022.

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The three-storey apartment building, at 485 Furby St., was damaged in a “significant” fire the previous month, prompting an inspection.

“During the inspection, several violations to the fire code were documented, most notably, the lack of a working fire alarm system, smoke alarms, fire separations and extinguishers. A vacate order was issued for the property on August 31, 2022, when compliance deadlines were not met,” Madden said.

The Furby building remains closed. A review of tax records shows the property is still registered to the Penners and is valued at $2,272,000.

The WFPS is on track to complete 14,000 fire safety inspections this year.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler 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.