City orders Manwin Hotel residents to vacate after fire ‘I’m staying put,’ defiant resident says amid fears some may become homeless By: Nicole Buffie Posted: 6:51 PM CST Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025 Last Modified: 10:03 AM CST Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025 Updates

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The owner of an infamous Main Street hotel says the city is contributing to homelessness by issuing a vacate order for dozens of tenants.

The city has ordered 34 residents of the Manwin Hotel to evacuate amid multiple outstanding permit requirements and compliance orders.

“The building was as safe as it was in the summer,” Manwin owner Akim Kambamba said by phone Wednesday afternoon. “Now all of the sudden, the middle of winter, people are told to go and live by the river or in campsites? Is this really Canada?”

Following a fire in a bathroom of the hotel last month, the city’s planning, property and development department ordered tenants vacate the premises no later than Jan. 17. Kambamba filed an appeal to the order, which will be heard Feb. 10.

The city said it will not enforce the vacancy order until the appeal hearing but some tenants say they won’t leave no matter what the outcome is.

“I’m staying put,” said Mark Head, who has lived at the hotel at 655 Main St. since last February following a tenancy at the nearby Sutherland Hotel, which was destroyed by fire last week.

Head was among fewer than 10 residents left in the building Wednesday.

“Every one of these rooms has somebody’s life in there and it becomes a support network for people,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

The hallways of the hotel were lined with clear garbage bags filled with personal items and drywall scraps Wednesday afternoon. Graffiti marked hallway doors and walls and some rooms had no doors on their hinges.

Kambamba said he was doing renovations to the building when he was served the order, which involved a fire escape that needed repairs and upgrades.

“This order has been outstanding for a while and it takes time and money,” Kambamba said. “It’s an ongoing process and I’m trying … but it’s too cold to be doing this.”

The average temperature in Winnipeg for January so far has been -21 C, with some days dipping below -29 C, Environment Canada data show.

“Every one of these rooms has somebody’s life in there and it becomes a support network for people.”–Resident Mark Head

A provincial spokesperson said Manitoba public health inspectors visited the property on Dec. 30, with representatives from other city departments. At the time, basic amenities such as toilets, sinks, showers, and hot and cold running water were operational, the spokesperson said.

In February 2021, the province temporarily shut the hotel down due to the building having no heat or water.

The 34-room hotel, built in 1882, has been the subject of violence, drug use and homicides in recent years and agencies and advocates have called for its closure.

St. Boniface Street Links executive director Marion Willis was at the hotel Wednesday speaking with tenants and Kambamba about the building’s conditions.

“I’m not suggesting for one minute the Manwin isn’t the hellhole that it is. However, nothing is different today than in spring, summer and the fall,” she said. “The Manwin does need to be shut down, but not in the middle of winter. It’s not about shutting it down and creating a crisis for people.”

Area councillor and chair of community services, Vivian Santos, said she has concerns with the building but wants to ensure the people living there aren’t displaced.

“With the recent fire that we heard, there are safety concerns now. It’s just uninhabitable. It’s unlivable,” Santos told reporters Wednesday. “I do have lots of concerns with that building in general. I have put on the record many times that the people who are currently living there, we have to ensure that they do not get displaced and become unhoused.”

Fire crews were sent to the hotel at about 7:38 a.m. on Dec. 29 and had the blaze under control within half an hour. The building sustained water, smoke and fire damage.

A Winnipeg Transit bus provided temporary shelter for evacuated residents, and the City of Winnipeg’s Emergency Social Services is helping 16 people find temporary housing support, a city spokesperson said at the time.

Kambamba claimed the fire was mostly smoke and did not pose any real threat to the building or residents.

Prior to issuing the vacate order, the city had been in contact with the Residential Tenancies Branch and the province’s Employment & Income Assistance to offer assistance to tenants, city spokesperson Kalen Qually said in an email.

Tenants were told to seek space at various shelters across the city but many are full and some have found themselves left on the street, Willis and Kambamba said.

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Willis said she plans to call for a working group with non-profit organizations and city departments to identify buildings like the Manwin so they can be proactive about fixing them and keeping them in livable conditions before they’re condemned.

Kambamba, who has owned the Manwin for 13 years, blames the opening of the Main Street Project shelter next door for his hotel’s reputation. The owner says people locked out from the shelter will wander into his hotel to find warmth and a place to sleep, and trouble often ensues.

Main Street Project’s director of community initiatives Katie Sjoberg said the shelter was informed of the vacate order two weeks ago and made preparations to accommodate and support tenants, including filling out Manitoba Housing applications.

“Until the order’s enforced, we’re going to continue to support everyone there to move towards housing, and in the meantime, make contingencies for them to join our shelter or join other shelters locally,” Sjoberg said.

The hotel has also faced legal trouble in recent years. Main Street Project filed a lawsuit against the hotel’s owner in November 2023 over allegations the slope of the hotel roof allowed rainwater and melting ice to fall onto its office and shelter, causing damage to the property.

— with files from Joyanne Pursaga

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

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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.