From valued village to squalid scourge Criminals, squatters make use of Balmoral Street housing complex abandoned by province; area residents concerned, social agencies frustrated
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An inner-city subsidized housing complex once lauded for its design has become a hub for criminal activity, raising safety concerns for neighbouring residents who are angry it has been left to rot by the province.
Centre Village is a 25-unit complex at 575 Balmoral St., easily recognizable by its bright orange window frames, white stucco and stacked, interlocked walk-up units — but the design that once received awards has become an ideal spot for break-ins, drug use, thefts and regular interventions from law enforcement, area resident Jason Keenan said.
“Nobody in their right mind would build a property like that in this neighbourhood, there are so many cubby holes and hiding places for drug users and stuff,” he said.
“If anybody knew anything about this area, they would have never built that thing. It doesn’t fit in this neighbourhood.”
MIKE SUDOMA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The Manitoba Housing complex Centre Village is a 25-unit complex at 575 Balmoral St.
The complex, which opened in 2010, slowly lost tenants before being fenced off 14 months ago and has sat vacant since. But Keenan, who has lived across the property for seven years, said even getting the fence installed was a years-long struggle.
Now, despite the barrier, Keenan said he regularly sees plywood torn off the boarded-up units, appliances dragged outside and people squatting inside. A few months ago, he said, eight people were pulled out of the building by security and later apprehended by police.
‘We could have done better’
When it was operational, Centre Village made international headlines — but not for reasons anyone involved wanted.
The complex was the subject of a scathing feature in British newspaper The Guardian in January 2016, which called it “apartments poorly suited to family life, and a building structure that seems to act as a magnet for drinking and drug-taking at all hours.”
When it was operational, Centre Village made international headlines — but not for reasons anyone involved wanted.
The complex was the subject of a scathing feature in British newspaper The Guardian in January 2016, which called it “apartments poorly suited to family life, and a building structure that seems to act as a magnet for drinking and drug-taking at all hours.”
The layout, designed by 5468796 Architecture, was described as cramped and difficult to navigate, and the story described the firm as “stuck trying to make the best of a bad situation.”
A father interviewed who moved in with his family after coming to Winnipeg from Bangladesh described living in the space as feeling like “a small box” where the kitchen and main area were on separate floors, and raised concerns about crime around the complex.
At the time, the criticisms were taken in stride by project co-ordinator CentreVenture and the province, with Manitoba Housing’s then-executive director of portfolio management Carolyn Ryan agreeing with the piece’s criticisms of the design as being incongruent for families.
“Innovative designs aren’t always going to work,” Ryan told the Free Press in 2016. “Sometimes you have to go back to basics.”
CentreVenture transferred ownership of the property to the province in December 2016.
Former chief executive and president Ross McGowan compared selling the complex to getting peanut butter off the development agency’s fingers in the Guardian piece.
“We could have done better,” McGowan was quoted as saying. “We all have a responsibility, as the owners, as the consulting team, as the province, as the city. Maybe that’s part of the issue: [we thought] ‘well, it’s just affordable housing, let’s not get too wound up about it.’”
5468796 Architecture wrote a response to the Guardian piece a month after it was published, criticizing some of the information included as being anecdotal and inaccurate.
“While we cannot speak officially to the success of the project, what we can tell you is that our experiences, both through observations and direct contact with the residents of Centre Village over the past years have been predominantly positive,” the letter, which is signed by 5468796 partners Colin Neufeld, Johanna Hurme and Sasa Radulovic, reads.
The space was quiet for a while after the fence was repaired, but it was breached two weeks ago, and the trouble began again.
He has called Manitoba Housing about the property and he’s been told to call the police.
When you call the police in Central Park, he said, they don’t show up quickly.
“This is a Manitoba Housing project, nobody’s living in it, taxpayer money’s going towards a building that they’re now trying to sell, that they’re allowing vagrants to go stay in and destroy,” he said.
“It’s going to become condemnable soon if they don’t do something about it.”
Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Jay Murray said while he couldn’t comment on specific calls for service at the address, officers are dispatched to the 500 block of Balmoral Street about once every day-and-a-half, on average.
Manitoba Housing security checks on the property daily, a spokesperson from the province said.
“Nobody in their right mind would build a property like that in this neighbourhood, there are so many cubby holes and hiding places for drug users and stuff.”–Area resident Jason Keenan
“Manitoba Housing has received calls from the public about fence breaches and trespassers at the site. When a fence breach occurs, Manitoba Housing makes the necessary arrangements with the fencing contractor to repair the fence,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Manitoba Housing is still considering “long-term options for the property that may include sale/transfer to a non-profit housing provider,” the spokesperson said.
The agency issued a similar statement last spring, leaving Keenan to wonder whether it will take a murder at the site for the province to act.
“It shouldn’t be allowed to happen. If this was out in Charleswood, one of these new developments or something like that, the police would be out there, the community would be all over it… nobody does anything about it,” he said.
MIKE SUDOMA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
NDP MLA Bernadette Smith called the abandoned complex is an example of “how much of a disarray that the current government is in.”
Smith grew up and raised her children for part of her adult life in subsidized housing. The last of those units she lived in is now boarded up.
“I know how important it is to make sure that people can access safe, affordable housing, and we’re just not seeing that from this government,” she said.
“They’ve sold off housing, they leave housing that is social housing vacant. They leave it unsafe, such as this one on Balmoral, and they’re not listening to community members who live in the area that are voicing their concerns.”
“It shouldn’t be allowed to happen. If this was out in Charleswood, one of these new developments or something like that, the police would be out there, the community would be all over it… nobody does anything about it.”–Jason Keenan
As of Feb. 1, there were 5,423 people waiting for subsidized housing on Manitoba Housing’s wait list.
The modernist complex was originally a collaboration among CentreVenture Development Corp., Knox United Church and the province.
It was intended to be a family focused rent-to-own co-op of six units that would house Muslim newcomers whose religion forbids them from paying interest on loans, giving them a chance at eventual home ownership.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES NDP MLA Bernadette Smith called the abandoned complex an example of “how much of a disarray that the current government is in.”
But the province rejected the plan to deliver funding for the co-op, forcing a new plan requiring denser occupation; Centre Village became a more recognizable subsidized housing complex.
New Journey Housing, a housing resource centre for newcomers, worked with some of the families who moved into Centre Village and regularly heard complaints that the narrow layouts of three-storey walk-ups weren’t functional for families, and that the courtyard meant to be a gathering space for residents instead became a hangout for outsiders, executive director Codi Guenther said
“The families that did move in there, they moved, they did not stay long. They wanted to move out,” she said Thursday. “It was almost like a temporary measure for them.
“When you have housing that people don’t want to stay in long term, then they’re not going to invest in the community and get to know their neighbours, which is what makes our areas much safer.”
The complex cost $3.7 million, including $1.5 million in grants from the provincial and federal governments.
“I know how important it is to make sure that people can access safe, affordable housing, and we’re just not seeing that from this government.”–NDP MLA Bernadette Smith
Working with other, similarly mandated groups, New Journey has been calling for Manitoba Housing to commit to building more subsidized units. Guenther said she hasn’t seen the province act on those calls.
“(Centre Village has) been a very frustrating project from the very beginning… so when it did originally get boarded up, I wasn’t quite surprised,” she said. “I’ve been more surprised by how long it has sat vacant.”
Guenther said the province appears to be leaning toward rent subsidies in the private market rather than building new subsidized housing. Last month, the government announced a two-year $1.2 million rent-subsidy fund to protect residents of Lions Place, which is now under private ownership, from expected rent increases.
Thousands of people fleeing the war in Ukraine have arrived in Winnipeg over the past year, and the federal government has promised to bring in more newcomers. Housing funded in part by the province will only become more necessary in the future.
“Resources have been stretched, and the need for housing that people can afford has absolutely increased over this last year,” Guenther said.
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