Blaze a blow to students

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This article was published 23/12/2019 (2259 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The opening date of a soon-to-be student housing complex across from the University of Manitoba is in question after flames engulfed it — a disappointing development in a community with long-standing concerns about illegal and unsafe rental units.

Over the weekend, more than 100 firefighters worked to put out a fire on the top of the 16-storey, mixed-use building, which is under construction on Pembina Highway.

Building materials on the upper floors caught fire around midnight Saturday, sending up thick smoke and huge flames. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The community has been waiting with “bated breath” for “The Arc” student residence at 2525 Pembina Hwy. to open, said Jacquie Field, chairwoman of the Fort Richmond University Heights Neighbourhood Association.

“It was going to really take the pressure off of housing in this neighbourhood,” Field said.

The blueprint for the development includes 368 student-oriented, furnished rental units with a total of 570 beds. The ground floor is slated to house commercial units.

“It’s something you never expect to have to deal with and we were in great shape, we were getting ready to open up in time for the (2020-21) school year,” said Henry Morton, president of Toronto-based developer Campus Suites.

While Morton said he was “pretty distraught, pretty dismayed, pretty shocked” Sunday, he’s confident only the top two floors suffered severe damage. Debris aside, he said the others appear to be fine — but it’s too early to say how the aftermath of the fire will affect construction.

He added that he’s thankful no one was seriously injured and wished the firefighter who suffered a hand injury while battling the blaze a fast recovery.

The development has been highly anticipated by the surrounding community and students at the U of M due to a demand for safe and affordable units near campus. Morton said Campus Suites had already received more than 300 inquiries from hopeful tenants.

That’s what made the massive fire especially upsetting for some, including PhD student Silvia Sekander. “It breaks my heart,” Sekander said, who often offers international students housing advice as president of U of M’s Bangladeshi Students’ Association.

Sekander, an international student at the south Winnipeg campus, moved to the city from Bangladesh — facing a shortage of student housing with little to no knowledge about tenant rights — in 2014.

“When I started, some of my friends stayed in basements that didn’t have any windows or a ventilation system, this kind of stuff,” she said. “They just take advantage of the newcomers, who don’t know (any better).”

While she has never felt unsafe in her student accommodation, she said her first Winnipeg landlord pressured her and her roommate to overpay for their quaint quarters, cover the cost of the unit’s insurance and threatened eviction.

She said such experiences are all too common for newcomers searching for housing, often while still a flight away from their soon-to-be residence. Some students pay a deposit and are refused when they show up with their luggage, while others struggle to find a local guarantor, Sekander added.

“They’re also not going to question authority because many of them come with the intent to get their (permanent residency),” said Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West).

Lukes has made cracking down on unsafe rental units a priority since she first heard about overcrowded lodging and “unscrupulous landlords” from area residents while on the campaign trail in 2014. She has fought for stricter bylaws and more frequent enforcement.

Dangerous conditions that come to her mind include a two-storey house shut down after the discovery it was divided up into 22 units, tiny basements without windows and an accidental cooking fire that started in a tiny basement in 2017.

“The total number of beds (in The Arc) is 570. That’s not going to solve the big picture problem but it’s 570 more safe beds that aren’t in basements,” Lukes said.

The University of Manitoba did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie