Province helps tenants return to College Avenue apartments after mass eviction

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This article was published 19/07/2024 (415 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial government said it is helping dozens of tenants who were evicted without notice from a College Avenue apartment building return to their units “immediately.”

The residents of Stratford Hall, a three-storey block at 285 College Ave., were abruptly ordered to leave July 12, resulting in an investigation by the provincial residential tenancies branch.

The province said Friday morning it had set up an emergency shelter in hotel rooms and arranged per diems for tenants who had nowhere else to go.

Later in the day, it said the tenancies branch had issued the building’s landlord several orders and would bring in 24-hour security to stay at the building over the weekend to ensure people can safely return to their units.

“The security team has been given a list of tenant names, and there will be new keys available for tenants to access their apartments,” the bulletin states.

Many of those tenants had “pre-existing relationships” with organizations that support homeless Winnipeggers such as End Homelessness Winnipeg, St. Boniface Street Links and the North End Renewal Community Corp.

Lindsay Schaitel of North End Renewal said people were evicted illegally and she wasn’t surprised to hear the province had taken action.

In the case of an illegal eviction, a tenant or someone who supports the tenant would call police and the tenancies branch to confirm they’re a legal tenant. The branch would then force the landlord to let the tenant into their suite.

“I’m just trying to understand why that stuff didn’t happen, and I think the only way I can understand right now is that the information wasn’t available at the time,” Schaitel said.

Some had found housing without help from the province by Friday.

Outreach teams from Street Links began visiting homeless encampments and other areas Friday to look for clients who had fallen through the cracks.

Executive director Marion Willis said her clients were calling her last weekend, asking for copies of their rent agreements to prove they had a right to live at the College Avenue block.

There was “chaos” when Street Links arrived at the building Monday morning.

Willis described the building as low-barrier housing that accepted month-to-month rent payments. She’d like to see the city work on incentivizing property owners to work with organizations such as hers.

“If we spent as much time getting people housed and retaining them in their housing as we do trying to protect people living in encampments, you might get somewhere in the city,” she said.

The people on Street Links’ radar who lived in the building were doing well, Willis said, adding several had reported making contact with family recently after being estranged.

She said the re-housing process will be a long one that requires more than just a shelter.

“People end up feeling quite defeated,” Willis said.

“They’ve been evicted and removed from that place through no fault of their own… It’s just been really traumatizing and a huge setback for those that have stopped using drugs.”

The building came under new ownership one day before the eviction began. It was purchased alongside another apartment block at 583 Furby St.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca