‘Questionable activity’ at Manitoba Housing high-rise

Residents of 375 Assiniboine Ave. said the building still has security issues that put tenants at risk.

Freda Peebles, who has lived in the building for three or four years, said she feels unsafe about 30 per cent of the time.

“There’s just a lot of questionable activity on certain floors,” she said. “A lot of people you wouldn’t want to run into coming in or out of your room.”

Pointing to loud arguments, signs of drug use and other problematic behaviour, she said she’d like the government to do more to identify people coming and going from the building. The 17-storey building is managed by the Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corp.

She said at times, men have tried to follow her inside, or people have shown up randomly at her door

She recalled an incident last year in which someone was bear-maced and the noxious substance spread throughout the vents.

She said right now, the security on site overnight, takes a passive approach to issues at the building.

“Their job is not really to intervene if anything happens,” she said. “They’ll just watch from inside the door. Because I’ve had incidents where I’ve tried to get their help and they’ve just watched from inside the room.”

On Tuesday evening, there was no visible security at the building, but there was an empty desk just inside the lobby.

One longtime resident, who didn’t want their name published, said while maintenance and upkeep is fine, some people in the building — many of whom are not tenants — are the source of concern.

He said while there is overnight security, more should be done to keep non-tenants out of the building, saying some people “have no fear of the law.’

“I don’t feel safe living anywhere in Winnipeg,” he said.

“At one time, people had some dignity, respect, but now, it’s like they do whatever they want … in my day, if you were a bad person, you got punished, now they’re treated like a child; they’re put in timeout.”

Angelo Rizzuto, who has only been living in the building for three months, said he doesn’t feel unsafe.

“It’s just like anywhere else; you just live your life the way you do and keep to yourself,” he said. “It’s been pretty quiet for the most part.”

— Morgan Modjeski